Defiance
by MateiFire
Summary: All I wanted was to become a Trainer. Mom said no. Now I've run away from home, got a fake identity, caught in a bet between 2 of the DexHolders, become a possible rival of a psycho bent on revenge, and hiding from the previous Champion on the Pokemon League. All of this because of one act of Defiance. World of PokeSpe.
1. The Journey Begins

**Hey, this is my second Fanfic. I'll be working on this one at the same time as** _ **Path of Heroes**_ **, interchanging updates. I'll explain in detail after the chapter. It's Pokémon, takes place in the world of Pokémon Special (Pokémon Adventures in the US), and includes my OC-Zircon. I'll explain the timeline at the end along with my future plans. With out of the way, here it comes! Thanks for reading!**

 **DISCLAIMER:** **I don't own Pokémon, whether it games, manga, or anime.**

 **Defiance**

 **Chapter 1: The Journey Begins**

 **January 20** **th** **-New Bark Town, Johto-6:59 PM**

 **Zircon's POV**

I stared at the clock on the wall as the second hand taunted me, seeming to go by ever so slowly, as if testing my patience. 'Just one more minute,' I thought as the minute hand moved closer to the 12 at the top. 'I've waited 5 years, I can wait one more minute.' I closed my eyes and waited for the clock to ring 7 times, signaling 7 o'clock.

"IT'S FINALLY TIME!" I yelled jumping off my bed.

Dad left around 5:30 PM in his car, and if traffic moved smoothly enough, he should be at the Violet City train station by now. In a couple hours, he'll be in Olivine, taking a boat to Hoenn for his business trip. That means, with Mom and Jade out wherever they are, there's no one to supervise me. Dad said his trip will be about one week, so I've got a week to get out of here.

Oh yeah, we haven't met. The name's Zircon. Zircon Idaisa. I live with my family in the edge of New Bark Town in Johto. It's a nice place, but like anyone 5 years younger than me, I'm itching to get out of here and go out on a Pokémon journey.

You heard right, I'm 5 years late on my quest. Right now, I'm 16 while all my friends left when they were 11. Why's that? Well, what happened is that my mother is rather overprotective. Back when I was 5 or 6, not sure, the whole Mask of Ice revival fiasco happened and she kept anyone of us from leaving home for a good year. Then, 5 years ago, right before I was about to graduate from the Trainer's school over in Violet, and get my Trainer's license, Team Rocket tried to stage yet another comeback that once again, threatened to throw the region into chaos. So, all those years of preparation went down the drain when my mom heard about that on the news. Jade, my sister, was lucky. She turned 18 about 2 years ago, and Mom decided she was old enough to live her own life, make her own decisions, and let her go on her own quest. So, I've been trapped at home ever since, and this time, I don't think Mom's gonna budge. Not until I'm 18 that is, and that's a bit too far away for my liking.

Whether she's home or not, she has a method of making sure I never leave home. She's got the entirety of New Bark on her "watch Zircon while I'm gone" list. From every mom in town, to every shopkeeper, to even some of the children, I'm practically under house arrest. She's even got good, old Professor Elm under her spell, which means I can't even get a normal starter like everyone else. Now, one might wonder how one woman has so much power over everyone in our town.

Well, if you'd turn on the TV, you might see why. Titanium "Titania" Idaisa is the winner of the previous triennial Pokémon League of Kanto and Johto and she's a top contender for the next person to take down the Elite 4. Yep, among the hundreds of Trainers in their teens and 20's, a 46 year-old woman is the one known as "Johto's Infallible Wall." This accomplishment has earned her the respect of everyone, the title as the "pride of New Bark Town," and thus the ability to turn the entire town into a maximum security prison for me. However, there is a silver lining to this.

Fortunately for me, while she and Jade are out trying to accomplish their own goals, the only line of defense I have to break through to achieve freedom is Dad. Now unlike Mom, Dad isn't some hotshot Trainer. In fact, he isn't a Trainer at all. He actually works for Hoenn's Devon Corporation and after marrying Mom and moving with her to Johto, he's now in charge of starting up Devon's Johto branch. He's more than willing to let me out on a journey, but Mom wears the pants in this family, so he can't do anything about my situation. He lets me be home alone, knowing that if I try to leave, someone will spot me and call my Mom, who in turn, will find me in a couple hours and give me a one-way ticket back to my room.

However, for the last year, I've planned a route that will get me around all of New Bark without anyone seeing me, giving me my one shot at freedom. With Dad gone, all I have to do is get outside New Bark, and the rest will probably work itself out. Although if I leave the way I am now, I'd probably be found out after too long as eventually someone will know I'm missing. I'm figuring that I might have to get a new identity and change my appearance, but if that's what it takes, I'll do it.

However, it might be a bit difficult to do so, because I really stick out in a crowd. While I can use contacts to replace my much more noticeable glasses, I'll need very strong color contacts if I'm going to completely cover my reddish-brown eyes. As for my hair, even if I cut it from the large ponytail I've grown out and dye it from dark brown to something completely different like blonde, there's one small detail. My Mom's side of the family has a somewhat odd noticeable feature: no matter how our hair is cut, a small tuft of hair somehow seems to shape itself atop of our heads. The only way to hide that genetic giveaway it to shave my head, and I'm willing to do a lot of things to escape, but I'm not willing to shave my head. I'm hoping I can get a haircut that can hide that well enough that it just seems like it's a messy hair day. If that doesn't work out, well, most Pokémon Trainers wear hats or something, right?

So, that's my plan. Yeah, it might seem like it's not all the way thought out through, but it's what I've managed in the past year. Step One: Get out of New Bark. Step Two: Make it to Violet City. Step Three: Go to Violet's Trainer's school and pass some sort of GED equivalency test of sorts to get my Trainer's license. Step Four: Get a starter Pokémon and begin my journey. Step Five: Don't get caught. Genius, right? Besides, even without Professor Elm's cooperation, I've got the starter Pokémon covered.

I head out to my back yard and let out a series of whistles. Out of the bushes, a Pichu popped out and jumped on my head. I laughed as I put him down. "Pete, stop that, come on."

Meet Pete. He's a wild Pichu I met when I was around 12. After saving it from some wild Pokémon that were bullying it, we became close friends who hung out in the backyard when no one was around. I kept Pete's existence secret from everyone because if anyone found him, boom-Pokéball, he's caught. So, I helped him find a way to get around outside the main routes Trainers usually travel. When I first met him, he always carried around some round stone for some weird reason. I don't know what it was, but it seemed special to Pete, so I got some rope and fashioned it into a little necklace for him to wear around his neck so he wouldn't lose it. We made a pact later on that when I became a Trainer, he would be my starter and he would have his own special Pokéball: a Luxury Ball I got from Dad as a souvenir from Hoenn.

"All right, the day we have prepared for is upon us," I started as Pete tried to pretend he was a soldier and I was the commanding officer. "With Mom, Dad, and Jade away all at the same time, this may be the only chance we have of getting out of this cage we call home" Pete nodded his head in agreement. "All right, you know the plan. Use the outer routes to maneuver your way to Violet City. I'll sneak my way out and make my way through the main routes. When I get there, I'll take the exam at the Pokémon Trainer's School and get my license. When I'm ready I'll call you with our special whistle, all right?" Pete cried his signature 'Pi, Pi, Pichu!' in response.

This was my only chance. If I failed, security around this town would double, and I'd have no chance to get out. I also only had 3 days to get the first part of this plan done. If I didn't get to Violet and get a license by 3 days, I'd have to go back home in order to get there by the time Dad gets back. I've got no time to lose! It's now or never!

"Move out!" Pete scurried back to the forest to make his way to Violet City. I went back in the house and grabbed my backpack and got my Swinub bank. I have been saving for a long time for this, doing odd jobs around New Bark and resisting the urge to spend any of my allowance and I think I finally have a good amount of money. Upon reaching Violet, I plan to go through a drastic makeover in both wardrobe and physical appearance in order to create a brand new identity for myself, so I needed enough cash for that. Afterwards, I'll probably make cash off Trainer battles and such, so I'm covered. All I had to do was make it there.

I put on some darker clothes and a pair of shades to try and blend in the background. It was around 8 and starting to get dark out, therefore giving me my cover to get out of here. I tried mimicking the stealthy maneuvers I've seen in various spy movies in order to make my way through town without being seen. Over the past year, I've memorized everyone in town's daily routine. It was a mundane task, but because of it, I had the perfect route out of here. Every time someone should be passing by a certain area would be my cue to hide. When they weren't looking or they passed by, I dashed to the next point on my carefully designed path.

There were a couple of close calls, but before long, I saw the clearing that lead the way to Route 29. Now all that was left was the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper was the name given to the woman who watches this small exit from the town from day to night. I've heard that almost every region's 'starting town' has someone like her, making sure children don't run out into the grass without a Pokémon they can call their own and wishing starting Trainers good luck as they make their way off on their adventures. Anyway, she was diligent in her job and I knew I was number one on her "doesn't get past this line" list.

I debated whether or not to throw a rock to get her attention and making a break for it, but I'm pretty sure that she'd probably be smart enough to find out the origin of the rock's throw, be it dusk or not. Plan B would have been to get Pete to go and distract her, but Pete's already started off to Violet. I could wait for her to go home for the night and take my chances dealing with the nighttime Pokémon, but I was hoping for an easier solution. Wait, she doesn't have someone to take over her shift for her, right? Oh crap, how did I forget to account for this?

"Hey, Hikari," a voice from inside town called out. I crouched deeper in my hiding spot, just peeking to see what transpired.

"Hello, Kouta, what's up," the gatekeeper whose name seems to be Hikari asked.

"Well, I just heard from Professor Elm that he just gave away his last starter for the day, so no one should be coming by without a Pokémon for protection," said the other person who I'm guessing was her brother or something. "Your job for today is most likely done." YES! Arceus has heard my plea and has sent down a way to get out in the form of a reason for Hikari to leave her gatekeeping duties.

"But what happens if someone tries to sneak out without a Pokémon or something. If they get hurt, it'll be my fault," she asked, worriedly. Damn it Hikari, just take the bait and get out of my way!

"Don't worry, no one's dumb enough to head out unprotected this late at night." Someone's underestimating how dumb I can be apparently.

"I don't know…" Come on, just get going!

"If you're really so worried, I'll cover for you." NO! Kouta, you were supposed to help me! Arceus! What happened? I thought he was supposed to help me!

"No, I don't want to put you through that," Hikari started. Wait, this could still happen. "Are you sure I'm good for today?" Yes, yes, he is.

"Sure, even the last person who got their starter is waiting 'til tomorrow morning to get a move on. Now come on, dinner's about to be served." Hikari looked one last time out the gate before nodding her head and followed Kouta back to their house.

I kept watching until both were out of my sight. All right, if I start now, I have a chance that I'll make it to Cherrygrove before nightfall! I sprinted towards the entrance to Route 29 at full speed. It's finally here! Step 1, compl-

"HEY KID, LOOK OUT!" A man on a brown bull Pokémon with multiple tails was charging directly at me until it crashed. The collision made me fall face first into the dirt road of Route 29. As for the man, he fell off too, but the bull kept running until it crashed into a tree and its horns were caught in the trunk. He sat up rubbing his head and said, "Ow, my head hurts like hell." He then turned to me, "Hey kid, you OK?"

"I'll live…" Usually, I'd be frustrated about being run over by someone who can't control their Pokémon, but Step 1 was accomplished, so I was in too good a mood to let him ruin this. Luckily, our collision didn't cause enough commotion for people in town to come checking what happened, don't know how or why and don't really care at this point, so my cover hasn't been blown yet. In any case, at least I'm out of New Bark and as of now, my adventure has officially begun.

The man got up, dusted himself off and stretched out his hand to me. I took it and he helped me up and then I looked at him as a whole. He must have been somewhere around 20 years old or so, only being about a foot taller than I was. The most distinguishing feature was his jet black hair with bangs that sprouted like wildfire. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a red-zip up sweater and jeans. I looked into his eyes, a golden yellow, either concerned for my well-being or worried that I might do something like press charges. "You sure you're okay, little man?"

"Little ma- , never mind that, I'm fine." I'm 16, I'm not that little.

"If you say so…" He mumbled and reached for his belt. 'Pokéballs, he must be a Trainer.' I thought to myself. He picked up his baseball cap and dusted it off before putting it on backwards. With the black cap with a yellow stripe in the middle, he looked very familiar; however I couldn't put my finger on it.

He pulled out a Pokéball and pointed it towards the bull. "Alright, Tauros, you are clearly in need of training." The bull turned into a ball of light before being called back into the ball. Through the top half, I could see the bull, apparently called a Tauros, wiggle its head around, glad to be free from the tree. The man sighed and attached the ball back to his belt. "Oh well, back to Super Serious Gal you go." He then turned to me.

I straightened myself out and looked him in the eyes, trying to keep my composure. "So, what do you need?"

"Nothing really, I just wanted to apologize for Tauros here. I'm trying to train him for someone and he's been quite a handful." He then let out a small chuckle.

I sweatdropped at his demeanor, 'He's totally trying to turn the subject from the fact that he almost killed me…' I sighed and said "No, it's cool"

"By the way, why is someone like you out here so late?" Oh no, have I been found out? "Eh, you probably got your reasons, right?"

"Yeah…" Cue another sweat drop. This guy is pretty chill about someone with no Pokémon just wandering through a place infested with creatures that could attack me at any second. "Well, I'll be on my way, be careful with your Tauros." I started walking away quickly, 'Better go before he starts thinking rationally about me wandering through unprotected.'

"Hey, wait up!" Damn it! Almost there! He ran up to me. "Hey, where are you going?"

"Well, I was going to Violet City, but I think I'll stop at Cherrygrove for tonight so I can get a fresh stop in the morning, why?"

"Forget that." Why? What happened? "It just so happens that I'm going to Violet, too! I'll help you out. I'll give you a lift on one of my Pokémon, and you'll get there tonight! Think of it as an apology for what happened earlier." He began shuffling through his backpack, looking for something.

"No you don't have to…" I tried to protest before he pulled back out that crazy bull. If he thinks I'm riding that thing, he's insane.

"Come on, it's the least I can do! Don't worry, you won't be riding Tauros, I'll give one of my own Pokémon. Don't worry, they're actually well trained." He threw me a Pokéball and a stick. I looked inside the Pokéball and saw a blue manta-like Pokémon through the transparent top half. "Meet Tibo, he'll help you fly to Violet. This way you can skip Cherrygrove and Routes 30 and 31." His huge grin helped me feel calmer about the whole idea. I guess if I got a chance to skip unnecessary routes, why should I refuse, right?

He threw the Pokéball, and out came Tibo, a species whose name was Mantine as I found out, who stretched its "wings."

"Um, what is this for?" I asked, pointing out the stick. I gave it to him and he swung it, as it extended and revealed a billiard cue. He gave back to me and went back to rummaging through his bag. "Okay, cool trick, but what do I need it for?"

"To attach these guys," he said with a smile as he handed me about 20 Pokéballs all connected by some sort of fishing line. Inside each of them was a small gray fish Pokémon.

"Why do you have so many of these on you? Aren't you supposed to only carry six Pokémon at a time?" I asked him.

He laughed and said, "Well, yeah you can only keep six Pokémon on you at a time, _legally._ " Oh crap, I've teamed up with some sort of criminal. "However, the legality of the situation only really applies when you battle someone or enter a tournament of some sort. Outside of battles with other Trainers, you can carry as many as you want. The 'only carry six at all times' rule they have is more of a…suggestion."

"Okay," I sweatdropped at his relaxed response to my question.

"Besides, I don't really use these guys, they're just here to help Tibo fly," he told me as he stretched out the fish line holding the Pokéballs together.

"Whatever you say, man. If you can help me out, do whatever you have to do." After leaving home, I'm technically going to be on the run anyway, so I guess bending some of the rules shouldn't be out of the question.

"That's the spirit; now let's get you ready for takeoff!" He swung the fish line of Pokéballs releasing a school of these fish Pokémon, he called them Remoraid, and they sort of connected to Tibo. He explained to me that most of them were turned backwards so they could fire water to propel the Pokémon forward. Two of the Remoraid up front held the pool cue to make it like a hang gliding-like kite. "Tibo's not called the 'Kite Pokémon' for nothing!"

"So I grab on here, like a hang glider, right?" I asked, pointing to the middle of the billiard cue. He nodded and gave me the thumbs up. I gripped both my hands on the cue and prepared for takeoff. "All right, here goes noth-" as soon as I got both hands on the Remoraid began their spray of water propelling me into the air at an incredible speed with no warning. I gripped tighter knowing that if I fall off this thing, I'm getting a one-way trip to the nearest hospital. "How do I steer this thing?!" I yelled down at the guy.

"Lean in the direction you want to go!" he yelled from below. I tried leaning left and the thing made a turn so sharp I could guarantee it was exactly 90 degrees. "You're going too sudden! You gotta ease into the turn!" I tried taking his advice and tried slowly turning and got Tibo to turn smoothly. However, I was too scared to turn again so I decided to just stay in these leaning positions which lead to me flying in circles. After flying in circles for a while, I decided to experiment in leaning in the other direction. With that, I turned that way. It seemed to be getting easier, so I think I'm getting the hang of it. "All right, that's the way! Tibo, fly him the quickest route to Violet City you can go!"

The kite Pokémon acknowledged his Trainer's command and made a sharp turn breaking the constant circles we were going in and then dived down towards the trees at a lower altitude in order to double its speed.

"HEEEEEYYYY! HOOOOW DO I GO UUUPPPP? WEEE'RREEE GOONNA CRRRAASSHHH!" I yelled as we flew down. The G-force of the wind as we dived down made it difficult for me to talk.

"PULL UP!" the man yelled from far down below. I did so and the Mantine did a 180 and started climbing straight up.

"HELP ME!" I screamed. Maybe I really shouldn't have taken this ride!

"Oh this is getting out of hand," the man on the ground pinched his forehead as he shook his head. "DON'T WORRY, I'LL HELP YOU OUT!" He picked up another Pokéball and threw it into the air. "TOGEBO! HELP ME OUT!" He hopped on the weird white bird-fairy like Pokémon and flew after me. Okay, he's going to let me hop on that thing and get me off this ride. "TOGEBO, AIR SLASH!"

"WHAT?!" the Pokémon he was riding fired several pressured gusts of wind at Tibo and me. Due to my constant squirming, we were able to dodge them. "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?"

"DON'T WORRY!" he called back at me. "AFTER WE SHOOT YOU DOWN, I"LL CATCH YOU!" There is no way I'm leaving my life on the hopes that this guy catches me. I guessed that since pulling up made Tibo go up, pulling down should make it go down, right?

My guess was right and after straightening it out, my speed doubled and I constantly looked back in order to fly this thing out of way of the attacks launched at me.

"SIT STILL!"

"NO WAY!"

The man frowned, and then smirked. "I didn't really want to have to do this… TOGEBO, AURA SPHERE!" The Pokémon he was riding fired a blue orb right at us. I turned and just barely dodged the orb. As I went back to focusing on flying this thing, the orb turned in mid-flight and came back after us. I managed to keep it from hitting me, but it hit some of the Remoraid, knocking them out, leaving Tibo's flying a bit wobbly and slowly but surely, we started to lose altitude. I looked back at saw the man had a maniacal look on his face, an evil smile on both his face and his Pokémon's, as they charged up another one of those undodgeable 'Aura Sphere's.'

"Please, have mercy!" I pleaded with him.

"FIRE!"

With each Sphere, thanks to my piloting, he only took out some Remoraid. Unfortunately, my inexperience in dogfighting began to show when he finally landed a hit on Tibo's right wing. We spiraled out of control until we crashed into a small tree. Thankfully, we had already lost enough Remoraid for the altitude and speed to be low enough that our crash wasn't too disastrous. As I coughed up grass, the man landed his Pokémon right next to us.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, helping me up.

"Well, other than being flown through the sky on some crazy Pokémon, getting shot out of the sky, and then crashing into a tree, I'm fine, thanks for asking," I said as I got up and adjusted my glasses.

"Once again, sorry about that," he apologized. "In any case, you were bound to crash eventually."

"What do you mean by that?!" This guy needs to work on his apologies.

"Did ya know how to land?" Whoa, he has a good point there. He rubbed his left shoulder and said, "Trust me, it ain't no walk in the park." He shrugged and continued, "Anyway, for a first-timer, you handled flying Tibo like a champ! Speaking of which, Tibo, Togebo, come back." With that, he took out two Pokéballs and returned the two Pokémon.

"Hey, by the way, how come I couldn't ride that other Pokémon? That one seems pretty sane," I asked him as he returned the 20 or so Remoraid.

"Oh, you mean Togebo? Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it." I was going to ask why when he mentioned for me to look at its Pokéball. Through the top half of the ball, I saw a devilish grin on the Pokémon, much like the guy's grin earlier. "Yeah, Togebo really only lets those whom it trusts completely ride him. I still can't get him to trust my girlfriend, so we got to take separate Pokémon to fly places instead of just taking one," he said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Great, so in any case I was stuck with the uncontrollable kite,' I thought to myself. Then, I realized in this entire ordeal, we had no idea where we were. "Hey, uh… do you know where we are?"

The guy looked around before smiling. "Seems you have a good sense of direction when it comes to crashing." He pointed at a gate showing to passage from Route 31 to Violet City. As he chuckled at his own joke as I breathed a sigh of relief. 'I'm already at Violet City! I'm making great time on my plan!'

We entered the city at around 10 PM, all the city lights lighting up the night sky. Now, I've been to Violet before with my family, but I've never seen it like this before. The lights of shops and towers was awe inspiring, like one of those cities depicted in those crimes shows on TV.

"Pretty neat, isn't it," the man said, noticing my expression. "If you're impressed now, just wait 'til you see Goldenrod, now that's a city." He looked back at the city before asking, "So, it's getting pretty late, where you headed?"

I looked at him confused, "What do you mean?"

"I mean do you have someplace to stay? Don't tell me you came here without a place to crash for the night?"

Well, originally, my plan calculated that I'd be here sometime tomorrow. "Well, I don't really know. How about the Pokémon Center, they usually let people rent some cheap rooms for the night, right?"

He scoffed and looked at me incredulously, "Dude, you need a place to legit get washed up, you're a mess."

"Let's not forget how I got like this," I told him. It was his crazy Pokémon that crashed me into a tree.

"Oh, yeah. Again my bad," he grinned. This is all a joke to him, isn't it? He straightened his face and said, "Alright, how about I find you a room at the best hotel in all of Violet. Don't worry 'bout the cash, I'll cover it. Think of it as 'sorry' for the crazy night I've put you through."

I thought about his proposal. It was a good deal, however the last offer he gave me got me in the condition I am now, with dirt all over my clothes, my appearance disheveled and my backpack missing a strap. "No, you don't really have to do s-"

"Don't sweat it, I'm glad to help. I mean I did pretty much put you through hell today."

"Didn't you have something to do here as well?" I'm not sure how much more of this guy's 'hospitality' I can take.

"Oh, I was planning to meet up with my girlfriend and go out for a quick bite," he said. "However, since it's so late, I'll probably just drop by and say hello, then fly home for the night." He smiled and turned to me, "So, I've got enough time to help you out, one last time, all right?" I could really use a shower and a decent room to prepare for tomorrow and if he's willing to pay, who am I to say no? Besides, everyone deserves a second or third chance every now and then, right?

So, I took him up on his offer. He asked around for a good place to stay and decided he'd rent me a room at Hotel Bellsprout. It was pretty close to the infamous Sprout Tower, and was a good walking distance from both a lot of the best shops in the city and also the Trainer's School, both key targets in tomorrow's plan. This time around, we just walked instead of trying to ride the bucking stallions on his Pokémon team. Upon reaching the hotel, he was greeted by the people there almost as royalty of some sort.

"Greetings, Mr. Kaito," the guy at the front desk greeted him. "How may we help you this evening?" So that's at least his last name: Kaito. Hmmm, sounds vaguely familiar, but why?

"Can you fix up a room for my buddy here? Something not too shabby, but not too pretty. Pretty much get him a room for him to spend the night and wash up. And try to get him something with a view too." He looked at me and winked, giving me the thumbs up.

"Can I get the name?" the man at the front desk asked. I was a bit hesitant to answer, because the last name Idaisa usually waves a red flag, with the strongest Trainer in Johto being my mother. Thankfully, Kaito, I guess I'll call him that for now, answered for me.

"Just put everything under my name," he said. "I kind of owe him for well…why he looks like that." He pointed at me and the front desk guy laughed and nodded.

"Oh course, getting in trouble as usual, aren't we Mr. Kaito?" the front desk guy joked.

"Wouldn't be myself if I wasn't," Kaito said as they shared a laugh. I don't really look that bad, do I? I looked at one of the mirrors in the pillars and saw they were right. All my clothes had grass and dirt stains. There were twigs in my hair and my backpack almost destroyed. This room he got me better be worth it, 'cause I need all the fixing up I can get! As if he heard my thoughts, he tossed me the keys, and he basically told me what he paid for, a one bedroom room for one night with breakfast downstairs in the morning. "If you really want it, I guess you could order some room service tonight," he said. "Just don't go overboard."

I nodded and bowed. "Thank you very much, I really appreciate it." This was totally worth the let's say 'challenges' he put me through today.

"No prob, like I said, it's the least I could do." Kaito began. "By the way, how long you planning on staying in Violet?" I wasn't really sure. I was mainly coming here to get my journey started. I knew Violet City had a Gym, and maybe after I got my license and trained a bit I could test my luck against the Gym Leader. I knew the Gym was Flying-type and since Pete was an Electric-type, I would have an advantage.

"Not sure, probably from a few days to couple weeks," I told him, trying not to reveal all too much.

"Okay, I'll be in town every now and then, so we might end up running into each other again, so I guess I'll see ya around!" Kaito said as he made his way out. He was a weird guy, but he helped me get this far in only one day, so I gotta thank him for that.

After going up to my room, I took a shower and cleaned up some of the scratches from earlier. In my now crushed backpack, I got the change of clothes I brought with me. Although wrinkled from earlier events, they weren't dirty. However, my Swinub bank was smashed with coins and bills scattered all over the bag. I was planning on buying pretty much a new identity tomorrow morning, so it was only a matter of time before I smashed that thing anyway. I was a bit hungry, so I got some room service, but I felt I shouldn't take advantage of the situation, so I ordered the cheapest sandwich I could find on the menu.

By around 11, I had changed, cleaned up, eaten, and gotten my stuff prepared for tomorrow. I had a crazy day: I got out of New Bark, met up with Kaito, had the whole flying fiasco, and now here I am, at classy hotel, just waiting for the next day. All in all, I felt like it was a successful first day of my journey which was only beginning. As I finally laid down on the bed, my eyelids grew heavy. I guess I needed my sleep after a long day. Right before I fell asleep, I murmured, "Step 2, complete…"

 **January 20** **th** **-Icirrus City, Unova-10:50 PM**

 **Normal POV**

 **Meanwhile…**

KA-BOOM!

Up on a hill on the outskirts Icirrus City, an explosion created a massive hole in the wall. The blizzard going on outside began blowing inside the house, dropping the temperature inside drastically.

THUD! CRASH!

A bald man in his mid-40's wearing a black leather jacket with the picture of a Krookodile on the back and jeans, was blasted against a china cabinet which caused all the plates to fall down and shatter. He had several tears in his jacket, cuts on his face and bruises along his body obviously made from a powerful Pokémon. In front of him stood a green-humanoid Pokémon that punched him from one side of the room to the other with its right arm. The Pokémon's left arm seemed to have a sword amongst the elbow that extended as it grew fiercer. The fear in his face was clearly noticeable as he slowly lifted his aching head to face the green swordsman Pokémon and its Trainer.

The Trainer was mostly hid by a silhouette, with the only clear thing the man could see were his eyes: filled with hatred and red as blood.

"I'm going to ask you one more time, and if you lie or avoid the question," the Trainer began, "you're dead." The animosity in his voice made the air thicker and harder to breathe than usual. "What's your affiliation to Team Rocket?"

"It...it...it long time ago," the man on the floor stammered. "I go Johto, be part Team Rocket, yes?"

"So, you were part of the attack on the Pokémon League 10 years ago?" the voice, filled with venom as its owner began to inch closer to his target.

"No, no, no," the man on the floor pleaded. "Yes, I member. However, long trip from home country make me late. When arrive, Team Rocket bye-bye a go-go. Job no more." The eyes of the man standing above him continued to flare in rage, so he decided to continue, in hopes of keeping his attacker from releasing any of his wrath upon both his house and him. "So, I come back. I decide, I make new Team Rocket in home country."

"SO," the Trainer's voice elevated with more malice began, "Are you the one responsible for the SHIT this region has recently gone through with…" he paused as he took a breath. He spoke the next two words with intent to kill regardless of what the man's answer would be. "Team Plasma?"

"NO! NO, NO, NO, NO!" the victim began yelling. "Yes, I plan to make new Team Rocket. But I come home and fall love, yes. I marry then have son. I no more try build Team. I now work at company in city!" His eyes were wide with fear and begging for mercy. The green Pokémon's 'elbow swords' had extended to a length now worthy of being called swords and were pointed at his throat.

"So, you are NOT responsible for the just recently defeated Team Plasma," the silhouette began. The puddle of a man on the floor quickly nodded his head like a bobble head figure shaken up by a child. "AND, while a member of Team Rocket, you were uninvolved in any of their schemes…"

"Yes!" the man shouted, hoping for his life, that this threat would begin to fade. "All I has is candy bar they want sell, that and old uniform."

"The one with the "R" on it, right?" the Trainer asked, his voice once again rising in volume and wrath. The red lights disappeared before the man, as this Trainer closed his eyes. The face of this Trainer, although unseen by the man in the dim lighting, slowly showed a growing hatred lighting a fire in his heart. The teeth were clenched tighter and tighter before grinding against each other like flint and steel when trying to make a fire. Both hands clenched harder and harder as if trying to crush a rock into sand. Finally, the eyebrows continued to crease as memories flashed back to the Trainer until the eyes reopened, an even brighter red than before. The fire in his eyes was hotter than ever, with not a single speck of mercy able to be seen. The man on the floor saw his eyes and knew what was coming and closed his eyes and prepared for what was to happen. The green swordsman Pokémon looked at its master for how to continue and prepared to attack, his glare being all the orders it really needed. "Kenshi, end this. Psycho C-"

"Daddy?" A young boy, around the ages of 5 or 6 wandered in the room with wide eyes at the sight: a giant hole on the side of his house and his father face to face with a Pokémon ready to kill him. His mother soon came in and scooped him up and turned him from the scene protecting him from the Trainer who had attacked their home. The man on the ground turned to his family, hoping to see them one last time before the sword sliced through him, which never came. The Pokémon noticed its Trainer wave his hand and stopped its attack inches away from the target's throat. The kid turned his head and locked eyes with his father's assailant and as he did, the shining red eyes slowly dulled down until they were more of a reddish brown than a deep red.

The Trainer looked at the boy: black hair and red eyes. He thought back to a young boy he knew with a close appearance whose parents died in front of him and the tragic life the experience caused afterwards. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, opening his eyes as he exhaled, once again looking at the innocent child before him. He calmed down and decided not to cause another to go through the same fate.

"Kenshi, come back." He held out a Pokéball and returned his green swordsman. He slowly walked to the man he just threatened to kill and knelt down to his level to look him eye to eye. The man, afraid of what was to happen, turned his head and closed his eyes. When nothing happened, he turned and slowly lifted the shades covering his eyes. As the man reopened his eyes, with the lights finally on, got a good look at who just attacked him.

Starting from the bottom as he made his way up he saw the figure of this unknown Trainer. Black combat boots at his feet led to a pair of jeans, with several tears as he went up. Next was a long black belt with metal spikes along it holding Pokéballs and a small pouch with a symbol he couldn't recognize. From his waist, he could see a plain, brown messenger bag that he wore slung over his shoulder. Reaching the torso, he saw a red vest, most likely built to take any sort of attack be it from a gun or Pokémon. Moving to his arms, there was a purple shirt under the vest, also filled with tears, sleeves rolled to the elbows. His hands both wore black fingerless gloves. He slowly went to the head as he saw hair as black as ash spiked out above his head and flowed down to his shoulders, spiked all the way through. He braced himself as he went to the face of this man. The man had a dark complexion and two scars, one on his right cheek and one over his left eye. He had eyebrows and black as his hair and dark bags under his eyes, signifying severe lack of sleep. Finally, he looked into the eyes, although no longer red, but a mix of red and brown. His eyes, while now they were calmed, still had nothing but hatred and anger swirling within them.

"Where were you deployed?"

"What?" The man asked confused. Just a minute ago, this man was prepared to kill him. Was he really being given a chance?

"I said 'Where were you deployed 10 years ago during the attack on the Pokémon League?" the Trainer's voice bellowed, his impatience reigniting some of the fury that was recently quelled.

"I…I...go to Kanto. Job was mess up train," the man managed to get out.

The Trainer stood up and threw a Pokéball out the hole in the wall, releasing a blue dragon with red wings, preparing to take off.

"One last thing…" the Trainer said as he climbed upon his dragon. "What news did you get of Giovanni?"

"None. Heard boss was missing even before planning."

"That's all I needed to hear," the Trainer said as his dragon took off into the skies of Icirrus City. The man got to his feet to embrace his wife and son after this life-threatening situation with only one question on his mind: 'Who was that and what did he want?'

 **Later that evening at a bar in Icirrus City…**

It was late at night in Icirrus when the Trainer who just finished his meeting with an ex-Team Rocket member went into a bar before calling it a day. Most of the people there were guys with friends talking over their days and starting to leave to get ready for the next day as it was nearing midnight. The Trainer walked over to the bar and called over the bartender.

"Just give me a scotch."

The bartender gave him a wary look and said, "Hey buddy, you got some ID I can see?"

The Trainer rolled his eyes and gave him his Trainer ID, annoyed that he couldn't go anywhere without his age being doubted.

The bartender looked at his ID before saying, "Says here you're from Kanto, that right?" The Trainer nodded with a confused look. "Yeah, well you're in Unova, and Unovan law says you got to be at least 21 to drink." He handed him back his Trainer ID as he took it back annoyed. Back in the other regions he had traveled, the legal age was 20 at max.

The bartender was about to leave as the Trainer said, "Wait a minute."

The bartender began, "Look buddy, I told you already you got to be 21 to drink. You want me to get you a root beer or something?" The Trainer said nothing and looked at the clock on the side of the wall. The bartender followed his gaze and turned just as the clock hit midnight.

The Trainer turned back and gave him his ID once more and said, "Check the date." The bartender looked at him confused and before seeing the birthdate on the card. He put two and two together and realized since it was now January 21st; this Trainer just now became 21.

The bartender laughed as he said, "So, going out for a drink for your 21st birthday, huh? Sorry 'bout that. So, what did ya want a scotch?" He poured him the drink and tossed it down to him along with his Trainer . "Sorry 'bout that mishap, this first one's on the house."

The Trainer took his drink, saying, "No problem. Here, how about I buy you a drink as well?" The bartender smiled and poured himself a drink. He raised his glass for a toast.

"Here's to turning 21, Mr. uhh…"

"Fukushi." The Trainer said as his downed his drink before slamming it back on the table. "Garnet Fukushi."

 **January 21** **st** **, -Icirrus City, Unova-12:00 AM**

 **So that's Chapter 1. This story is basically telling the story of 2 of my OC's: Zircon, the boy starting out his journey, and Garnet, a veteran Trainer tracking down member of the evil organizations and bringing his own version of justice upon them. The setting is the world of Pokémon Special (Pokémon Adventures in the US) 10 years after the end of the Gold and Silver Chapter. To relate to other chapters I'll put a list here:**

 **RGB: 13-14 years later**

 **GSC: 10 years later**

 **RSE: 9-8 Years later**

 **DPPT-2 years later**

 **HGSS/ORAS-5 years later**

 **(ORAS chapter has been confirmed to occur at the same time as HG/SS chapter)**

 **This puts it about the end of the Black and White chapter and 2 years before the B2W2 chapter. To check how I arrived at these dates, check out the Pokémon Adventures timeline on Bulbapedia.**

 **As for characters from the manga, I plan to introduce most of them throughout the story. For example, Mr. Kaito, if you couldn't put it together, is Gold. As for Black and White, introducing them will be kind of difficult due to certain circumstances that can't be explained unless I spoil the end on the Black and White Chapter-so I'll put the spoilers in italics for those who wish to remain unspoiled can skip past.**

 **SPOILER ALERT:**

 _ **At the end of the Black and White Chapter, after N leaves on Zekrom, Reshiram begins to turn back into the Light Stone and Ghetsis pushes Black into the mix and he along with Reshiram turn into the Light Stone. After this White tries to grab the stone before it flies off into who knows where. With Black out of the picture, I'll be refraining from introducing too much of White without Black unless 2 years end up passing throughout the time frame of this story and assuming that Black is released from the stone within the events of the as-of-when-I'm-writing-this unfinished B2W2 chapter. Then I'd probably introduce Black and White-now around 16 years old.**_

 **END SPOILERS**

 **Other things I want to point out:**

 **Although I originally read Pokémon Adventures via the Chuang Yi translations, I'll be using the English names of the characters/nicknames of Pokémon. Why? I'm not sure, and to be honest, I don't see too much difference, thus I think it shouldn't be too much a big deal which version of the names I use. As for Lack-Two/Whi-Two/X/Y, I'm on the fence about whether I'll put them in or not as both the B2W2 and XY chapters are unfinished as of this time and let's face it: Lack-Two and Whi-Two, even when changed to Rakutsu and Faitsu for the romanji Japanese version, are pretty stupid names. As for X and Y, it's too early on in both this story and the XY chapter to tell.**

 **Names this chapter:**

 **If any of you previously read** _ **Path of Heroes,**_ **you know I usually put meanings behind names of characters. So I'll give explanations here:**

 **Zircon Idaisa** **-In Pokémon Adventures, the character's first name usually correlates to their game and (until Black and White) their eye color (And birthstone like in R/S/E.) So, Zircon, although the stone itself can be several different colors, I'm referring to it as red in this story for the sake of his eyes. As for the last name Idaisa:** **偉大さ** **-(idai-sa)-translates to greatness-as in 'destined for greatness'-since his mother is a previous Champion.**

 **Garnet Fukushi** **-As mentioned before, his name comes from his eye color-Garnet is a reddish brown color and since his birthday is January 21** **st** **, it's his birthstone as well. As for Fukushi:** **復讐** **-(Fukushu)-means revenge or vengeance based on his mission against all the evil teams.**

 **As for Gold's last name:** **Kaito** **, I'll going to be straight up honest: I have no idea if there is any significant meaning behind it. I just was a fan of the story** _ **A Miscellaneous Tale of Night and Day (AMOTODAN for short) by Starran**_ **that I kinda borrowed her last name for Gold: 'Kai'-and just added a 'to' to the end to give it a bit of difference.**

 **Lastly, as a head's up for future chapters: for the Blue-Green debate:**

 **Green will be the male rival**

 **Blue will be the female character**

 **I know most of what I'm doing is following the English translation but this I won't change. Sure, in the English their names are switched, but like I said before-their names are based on eye color and the guy has green eyes and the girl has blue eyes, so those are their official names, and I feel that is too important to switch.**

 **Note:**

 **In this chapter Garnet started at 20 and mentioned he could drink in regions such as Kanto and Johto. Since those regions are based on Japan, I decided to use the drinking age there the same as the Japanese one: 20. As for Unova, it's known that it's based on New York City which is in America, where the drinking age is 21.**

 **Also, I know I said there was a train station at Violet that went to Olivine in the beginning, when in the games there isn't, but:**

 **1: The cities in both anime and manga are a lot bigger than in the games**

 **2: This story does take place several years in the future-so imagine that they've added some stuff**

 **3: How do people who don't train Pokémon get from city to city without some sort of transport?-Here's my solution**

 **As for how this will work along with my other story** _ **Path of**_ **Heroes-I'll try to explain as much of what's going on as I can. I never got to updating the latest chapter of** _ **Path of Heroes**_ **for 2 reasons. 1: Since no one really voted on the poll, I didn't really know how to continue. 2: This story had been stuck in my mind, taking up all the room** _ **Path of Heroes**_ **had. So, I am planning to try alternating between the two stories in terms of updating unless I feel like updating one more than the other. Besides that, I'll be working on both stories pretty much at the same time, interchanging between the two.**

 **After that extremely long set of explanations setting up the story, this is the end of Chapter 1 + A/N of** _ **Defiance.**_ **I hope you continue to read and enjoy! Remember to leave a review! Any sort of feedback helps! Thanks!**

 **-MateiFire**

 **P.S. Usually, I have drawings of my characters that show how I imagined them, but since the next chapter Zircon will be going through a large appearance change, I'll wait until next chapter to upload the pictures to Deviant Art-as always, link in My Bio.**

 **P.S.S As a note, the tuft of hair that Zircon mentions as a family trait is basically an ahoge- which is basically when an anime/manga character has a single piece of hair that sticks up (Ex. Edward Elric-FMA, Oozora Hiro-Danball Senki W, etc.)**


	2. Quartz Dorima

**Hey, how's it going! Welcome to Chapter 2 of** _ **Defiance.**_ **I've decided that from now on, I'm going to try to keep these intro things short and if I want to really say anything, I'll leave it for the end of the chapter. So, here goes! Thanks for Reading!**

 **DISCLAIMER:** **I don't and haven't ever owned Pokémon, whether it be the games, anime, or the manga.**

 **Chapter 2: Quartz Dorima**

 **January 21** **st** **-Violet City, Johto-8:00 AM**

 **Zircon's POV**

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Click. Stupid alarm clock. I get it; get up, there's no need to annoy me all morning long. I sat myself up and stretched out my arms. I grabbed my glasses from the nightstand and put them on as I looked around myself. It sure has been a long time since I've woken up in a place that isn't either my own bed or the couch in the living room at home. I pinched myself to make sure it wasn't a dream.

"AH!" There's the pain, verifying that it's not a dream! I'm in Violet City, and I'm only a few steps away from actually accomplishing this crazy plan of mine! I threw the covers over to the side and jumped off the bed, stretching the rest of my body this time. I decided to take a quick shower before heading to the lobby of the hotel. All the while, I continued to run through my head the plan and prepared what I would say or do through several different scenarios that I could think of. The excitement of achieving a goal I've been waiting for several years was giving me an unbelievable amount of anticipation and energy, and I felt like I just couldn't slow down for a second.

After changing, I went downstairs and was able to get breakfast as part of the deal Kaito was able to get me yesterday. I have to admit, despite all the trouble I went through yesterday, it was starting to feel like it was worth it. I was making incredible time on my schedule. Arriving at Violet City originally was going to take about a day and a half, minimum, and I was going to have to spend the night at a Pokémon Center to save money. Now, here I am, in Violet City almost an entire day early, having breakfast at one of the priciest hotels in the city, and I'm not paying a penny! If that's not good luck, I don't know what is! After finishing up breakfast, I gave the front desk back my key and slung my now one-strapped backpack over my shoulder as I made my way out into the new day that was awaiting me.

I looked up to the sky and thought, 'All right, first things first. I need a complete makeover. In order for me to continue on my journey, I need to change my appearance so I'm unrecognizable to anyone who knows me if I ever appear on TV. With a good enough disguise, be it Dad, Jade, or even Mom herself, I'll be able to disappear without a trace and be able to continue my journey and not have to constantly watch my tracks to see if I'm being followed. Thankfully, last night before going to sleep, I looked through some pamphlets detailing all the stores in Violet City's shopping center, and it seems that everything I need should be there. I took a deep breath as a final preparation before running out to the city to get started.

I decided the first order of business should be to get rid of my two most distinguishing features: my hair and my glasses. I went to a salon where some of the hairdressers have styled hair of many famous Trainers, one popular example being the Elite Four's Karen. With their help, I dyed my hair into a blonde color which kind of bordered on being silver, but it was anything but brunette, so it was good. Afterward, she was able to cut my hair from its long ponytail and gave it a typical spiky hairstyle, one that could hide the Idaisa family tuft of hair that we were easily identified by and was able to make it pass for just a part of my "signature look."

Next, I went to an eyeglass store and was able to get some contacts that not only help me see without my glasses, but also changed my eye color from the dark red to a very light blue to the point that it was almost clear. I bought several sets of those reusable contacts in case a couple got lost. Hey, a Pokémon journey is no easy task, you gotta be prepared.

Speaking of being prepared, I needed both a new backpack and some stuff for the road. I went to a store that specialized in Trainer gear. First off, I bought myself a hat that I could use if my hair situation ever got out of hand. I got an orange backpack that embodies the spirit of "is bigger on the inside than the outside," with practically enough space to fit 1000 Pokéballs. I know, it's a weird comparison, right? No one needs that many Pokéballs. Anyway, I decided instead of getting a tent to camp out when in the middle of a route, I just got a sleeping bag. Hey, if I'm in the middle of a route, I'll just find a tree and sleep under it for the night, that'll be my tent.

Second, I needed a new PokéGear. My previous PokéGear was now useless, as its only contacts were the people I was trying to escape from: Dad, Jade, and most of all, Mom. I decided to get a brand-new one, with a new number without transferring any of the data from my last one. If I was getting a new start, I truly needed a clean slate. To make sure I didn't get lost, I bought a Map Card for the PokéGear, and then decided, since there was a 2 for 1 sale, I might as well get the Radio Card as well. Lastly, since I can't always eat at a restaurant because I won't always be in a town or I'll run out of cash, add in the fact that I can't cook to save my life, I got some easy to prepare food: energy bars and cup ramen. Not the most ideal of meals, but easy enough that anyone can make.

As the final step, I decided I needed a completely new look. Usually, my attire was pretty basic: a t-shirt and jeans. However, after checking how much money I still had and remembering the price needed for taking the Trainer's exam, I decided I had enough to get an upgrade in terms of my wardrobe. I went to a place called _Kalos Boutique_ where they had clothes imported all the way from the Kalos region, a region known for its style. I got a green shirt, blue sweater with a lightning bolt on the left sleeve, and since they're all the rage, ripped jeans. Since I needed a change of clothes, I just got a second set of the same stuff. I looked at my shoes and decided to get a new pair, picking up some purple sneakers. In order for me to carry Pokéballs at my waist, I got one of those specialty Trainer belts. The last thing I got was a wallet to hold my leftover money and so I would have a place to put my Trainer license once I got it.

After my last purchase, I took a look in one of the store windows. 'Wow,' I thought. 'If I didn't know I was looking into a window, I could swear this isn't my reflection.' If I couldn't recognize myself, then I know my transformation was a success. However, in seeing this completely different person, I realized that I was going to need a completely different name. After starting my journey, I was planning to challenge the Gyms, and one of the most popular stations turned on every TV was Trainer's Center, where they gave reports of Trainers who won Gym Badges every day and if Zircon Idaisa came up as one of the names, there's a red flag right there.

Now a name isn't the easiest thing to choose. Once I decide on one, that's who I'll be known as to all people. Hmmm, how did Mom choose my name? Oh yeah, she named me Zircon because of the color of my eyes! Well, my eyes now seem to be a like a crystal-like blue, but Crystal is a girl's name, so…I got it! As for a last name, hmmm… It's got to be something normal but not overly common. Eh, I guess I'll make something up. They say the best names come up on the spot, I think.

With all that in mind, I made my way to the Pokémon Trainer's School. It was a lot bigger than what is was when I last came 5 years ago. Back then, the Trainer's School was a small building that seemed more like a daycare than a school. Now, with several branches of buildings based on specific areas of training, classes based on age, and even a battlefield outside, it has transformed into the perfect preparatory school for any aspiring Pokémon Trainer.

I made my way inside and walked up to the front desk. At the desk was a secretary, currently on the phone, signaling me to wait a couple seconds as she finished her call. I took a seat and waited in the room, checking out some of the magazines in the waiting room. Unfortunately, the main story in the magazines and the front covers all focused on one Trainer in particular: Mom. I tried watching the TV in the waiting room, but guess who was being interviewed, that's right: Mom. As the number one Trainer in Johto, she's been swarmed with press coverage around the clock. Although in the joint regions of Kanto and Johto, there are a couple who are better than her, her position as both mother and skilled Trainer make her the most interesting topic in today's current news.

"Next please," called the secretary as she finished up her phone call. I looked around the waiting room and saw no one else, so I guess she means me. I walked up as she smiled and said, "Welcome to Violet's Pokémon Trainer's School, how can we help you?"

"Well, I…uh, w-would like t-to, uh see a teacher about taking the Trainer's GED test or something," I managed to make out.

The secretary looked at me from top to bottom before asking, "How old are you?"

"I'm 16," I answered, trying to be a bit more composed and sure of myself.

It seemed that this worked as she smiled and said, "Well, to take the Trainer's Equivalency Exam, you need to be accepted by one of the school's professors. I'll call one over and ask that she do an evaluation, okay?" I nodded and waited as the secretary called over the PA, "Could Ms. Tensari please come to the Main Office. Ms. Tensari to the Main Office, thank you." She then turned to me, "She'll be here shorty."

I went back to the waiting room and sat down, going over in my head what kinds of questions she might ask and my answers. I sat in anticipation as I saw a silhouette of not one-but two people coming down the hallway. They seemed to be having a somewhat heated discussion that I only really paid attention to once I recognized one of the voices.

"I've told you maybe a thousand times, don't interrupt me in the middle of one of my classes," the woman, I'm guessing the teacher, said.

"Ah come on, Crys. I've got nothing better to do, and you're always busy with teaching here, helping the Professor, or volunteering at the orphanage," the other voice complained who I recognized immediately as the silhouettes came into view.

Kaito?! I remember he had said that was going to visit his girlfriend in this city, but I had no idea she was one of the teachers here!

"Well, excuse me for actually having a job!" she yelled as she turned to the secretary to see why she was called down before turning to me. She was a bit shorter than Kaito, with a red buttoned up blouse, an orange skirt and black shoes. Behind a pair of glasses I saw a pair of crystal blue eyes, rather annoyed at what I'm guessing is Kaito barging into her class. She had dark blue hair, tied into one long ponytail and star shaped earrings. As she walked over, I stood up, and prepared for whatever questions she would ask as Kaito walked beside her still trying to get the last say into their conversation.

"I _do_ have a job! It's called being a Trainer! Isn't that what this entire school is for?"

"Ah, forget it, we'll talk about this later," she said, waving him off before trying to smile as she looked at me and said, "Hello there, my name is Ms. Tensari and I'll be doing your evaluation okay?"

I bowed as I greeted her and thanked her for her time. I turned to Kaito, bowing, and said, "It's nice to see you again, Mr. Kaito."

"Do I know you?" I looked up from my bow and saw he had an eyebrow raised with a confused look on his face.

The teacher looked at him and asked, "Do you know this kid? And who calls you by your last name?"

I laughed as I realized that my transformation in my appearance was probably why he didn't recognize me. "I met you yesterday, remember? You ran over me with your Tauros?"

"YOU DID WHAT?!" the teacher yelled at him. However his face remained unchanged.

"Not ringing a bell…" he said.

"Really?" I guessed I need to jog his memory a bit, "I rode here on your Mantine?" Nothing. "You shot me out of the sky on that other Pokémon?" Zero. I sighed and said, " _That kid_ you helped out last night?"

"OHHHH! You're _that kid_!" he exclaimed as I sweatdropped since he only remembered me after I referred to myself as 'that kid.' "Wow, man, you really changed! What'd you do, get a haircut or somethin'?

I chuckled and said, "Sort of…" A haircut was only scratching the surface of what had changed about me.

"Well, you look a lot better than you did yesterday, that's for sure."

"Excuse me." The teacher cleared her throat before saying, "So, have you two met before?"

"Oh yeah!" he said, turning to her. "Remember that kid I told you about last night? The one who rode Tibo like a boss?"

She close took off and cleaned her glasses as she said, "I remember you telling me about someone." She put back on her glasses as she got a good look at me, "He's different from what I imagined."

"Well, anyway, kid, it's good to see you again!" Kaito said with a huge grin on his face.

"I had no idea we'd meet up so soon, Mr. Kaito!" I told him back. Maybe he can help put in a good word for me! After all, one could say he still owed me for almost killing me several times yesterday.

He looked at me before saying, "All right, no need to be so formal. Mr. Kaito was my father's name." he said, pulling out that old joke. "My name is Gold. Gold Kaito." He put out his hand for a handshake as my jaw dropped open.

"G-G-GOLD KAITO?!" No wonder he looked so familiar! He's one of the Dexholders, who've helped save Johto against Team Rocket multiple times! I've seen him all the time on T.V! The man's a legend! I took his hand with both hands and shook it like the crazy obsessed fan I am.

"See Crys, I do have a job," he said with a smug look on his face. "Being there for my fans."

I looked back to the teacher and it only took me a couple of seconds to put two and two together. If he's Gold Kaito, she must be… "Crystal Tensari?" She nodded, less enthusiastic on being recognized than Gold. Two Dexholders in the same day? I've always wanted to meet at least one of them on my journey and to think I've met two of them before I've even started!

"All right!" Crystal started, breaking me out of my daze. "In this school, I am not Crystal of the Dexholders, but rather Ms. Tensari or Tensari-sensei; whichever one you prefer to use."

"Yes, Ms. Tensari," I said, standing up straight as I remembered why I was here. She sat down on one of the chairs so I sat down on the chair across from her as Gold slouched down on a seat on the side from us. She took out a clipboard and began to write down notes, before she began to ask questions. Since I didn't have any sort of résumé, she began with some basic questions like my age, hometown, history with Pokémon, and previous schooling. I answered truthfully to all the questions since they were basic questions and although I've taken classes here before, they didn't have any computers back then, so I figured that I wouldn't be in the database so they couldn't trace it back to me. Oddly enough, she skipped asking my name, so I guess that gave me more time to think up a last name.

She looked over my information before saying, "Well, your qualifications seem to be okay, but in order to take the exam, you'd need a reference or two from licensed Trainers saying you're okay, be it friend, sibling, or a parent or guardian."

I panicked over what to do. Obviously, my family was out of the question and all the friends I had left 5 years ago and now could be anywhere in the world by this point. I started to give up hope but then I heard, "I'll vouch for him." I looked over to a tired Gold who had his hand up. YES! If he helps me here, I'll forgive him completely for everything that happened yesterday! "I mean I saw him in action yesterday, and he seems perfectly capable of taking care of himself and he seems to get along perfectly with Pokémon," he stated, smiling with a wink in my direction.

"Are you sure about this Gold?" Cry-I mean, Ms. Tensari asked, "I know you might feel guilty about whatever you did to him last night, but this is about letting him going out into the real world by himself."

"Sure as I am about anything, Super Serious Gal," he teased but made sure to give enough of a serious tone that showed he knew the serious nature of the matter.

"Well, if Gold's your reference, I guess you don't need a second one." She began. "He might be rash, irresponsible, and not the smartest…"

"HEY!"

"But he's definitely one of the best trainers out there," she finished with a smile towards him. He smiled back as he broke out into another one of his signature grins.

"All right, I'll go get one of the tests. Gold, you spend enough time here to know which of the classrooms are free at this time." She tossed him a ring of keys. "Sit him down and I'll join you after I get him an exam."

As she went to go get the exam, we did just that. Gold found some random room that was empty and fiddled with the keys as he tried to find the right one. Once he got it, we went in and I sat down on the first desk in the front row. There was no one there so where I sat didn't matter. I tried to go over some key facts I knew would be on the test but couldn't since Gold was messing around with a pointer pretending to be a teacher. Thankfully, before long, Ms. Tensari came in with the exam and handed it to me.

"All right, you've got an hour to complete it," she explained. "All the questions are multiple choice and when you're done, just get up and walk over to Room 217 across the hall and hand it to me. Any questions?" I shook my head. It was easy enough to understand. Ms. Tensari turned to Gold and said, "Watch him and make sure he doesn't try to look up answers on his PokéGear or something." Gold gave her the thumbs up and sat back in the chair behind the teacher's desk. Ms. Tensari left back to her class, worried that the lack of a teacher led her class into anarchy.

I dived straight into the test, answering question by question. I'm not the greatest test taker or the smartest guy around, but I've had 5 years to study, and even with a good portion of those years making it hard to study between Mom watching and developing my escape, I'm pretty sure I'd do fine. A lot of questions were easy, such as basic type matchups between a Fire type and a Water type, how many badges were required to skip the preliminaries in the Pokémon League, what was the best method to catch a Pokémon, and so on. All the questions weren't about Pokémon though, they made sure you could live on your own while traveling, with questions asking what you would do in certain situations like if you were lost or caught in a disaster of sorts. Although some questions seemed like they were giving you the answer, some others seemed like they fell in a bit of a grey area. I checked my answers twice, because if I remember correctly, the pass margin had been upped from 75% to 80% in the past years due to several criminal organizations rising in almost every region. In each of these occurrences, Trainers have been caught in crossfires, so knowledge in survival of many different scenarios had become crucial for any starting Trainers.

I stood up after finishing and checking my answers twice. I looked up at the clock and saw I had only 5 minutes left. I guess I finished with just enough time left over. I was confident that I was at least getting 80% on this test. Gold looked up at me from his PokéGear and smiled, "You done?" I nodded and he walked out with me.

We walked over to Room 217, where the class was just ending. After all the students left, I gave Ms. Tensari my exam. She looked it over and took us to another room where a machine would scan my answers and score it. In 5 minutes, she came back out with my test and was about to announce my score. I tensed in anticipation.

"Well, your score is…" She paused for dramatic effect. "You passed. You got an 88, congratulations."

"All right, little man!" Gold turned to me and gave me a high-five. I passed! I passed! Step 3 com-

"One second," Ms. Tensari knocked me out of my thoughts. "You forgot to write your name. Unless you want your Trainer Card to say "Little Man" as your name, I suggest you put it down."

"You know, now that you mention it, I don't know your name yet, either." Gold said.

She handed me my already completed test for me to actually answer the hardest question on it. My name. I decided on a first name earlier that day. Since my eyes were now a clear blue, I had decided on: "Quartz," I said as I wrote it down. As for a last name, I decided since this entire situation was a dream come true so: "Quartz Dorima," as I finished writing it down.

"Quartz Dorima, eh?" Gold said, looking at me. "It kinda suits you." Thanks, I guess?

"All right Quartz," Crystal said, turning around. "It's time for the battle part of your exam."

"BATTLE PART?!" When was this added to the exam?

"Yes," she said as if were basic. "When the battlefield was added to the back of the school, a battle supplement was added to the test. It determines your capability of commanding a Pokémon in battle."

"But I don't ha-" I tried saying.

"Don't worry, Pokémon will be provided for this part of the exam," She said as she led us out the back. The battle was to be held on a sandy field drawn out in the corner of the school.

Gold clapped his hands together and said, "All right, Quartz. It's time to show us what you're made of!"

"Glad to see you're excited, Gold," Ms. Tensari said. "You're his examiner."

"WHAT?!" we exclaimed simultaneously.

"Well, of course. Gold, you said you'd vouch for Quartz here, and let's face it; you're more capable at battling than I am."

"But-,"

"No buts," she said.

Gold gave in and then nudged me and said, "Hey, just cuz we're friends doesn't mean I'm going easy on ya!" He grinned and walked over to his corner and began to reach to his belt for a Pokéball.

"Gold, you're not using your own Pokémon!" Ms. Tensari called to him.

"I'm not?"

Ms. Tensari sighed as she pushed a button on the wall. Two trays of six Pokémon came out on each of our sides of the field. I walked over to see the options. I noticed two of the Pokémon were some common ones you find everywhere, like Rattata and Pidgey. There was some variety in types among the other four though. The other four: Bellsprout, Poliwag, Geodude, and Growlithe all were different types, thus making the type matchups completely random. "Both of you have the same set of 6. You can choose 3 of the Pokémon," Ms. Tensari laid the rules down. "Switching out is prohibited and when all 3 Pokémon of one side are unable to battle, the battle ends." Those are some harsh rules. If I can't switch out, it all depends on what type matchups we end up with. "Don't worry," she said as if reading my mind. "Winning or losing doesn't affect your score. This is mainly used to see if you can battle effectively."

"So, I don't need to win, just show my skill…" I thought about this. I never really battled before, I've only done target practice with- "Ms. Tensari!"

"Yes?"

"Could I use a Pokémon of my own?"

She looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "You have your own Pokémon?"

"Well sort of," I tried to explain. "I haven't exactly caught him. He lives in the forest. I told him to meet me here when I left for Violet. I can call him with a special whistle we share."

Ms. Tensari looked at me and asked, "Well, we've allowed this before, but if you do, you can only use that one Pokémon. Is that okay?"

I thought it over, 'If I use Pete, I might have a better chance at showing my ability. I mean we're usually in sync when we do target practice on the soda cans back at home. It might be difficult since we'll be fighting 3 to 1, but winning isn't the goal here.'

Gold called from his side of the field, "I've got my 3 chosen already, so you don't have to worry about me trying to get a good matchup against you!" I smiled at him, appreciating that he was taking this match seriously and giving me a fair shot.

I looked over at Ms. Tensari and nodded. I put my index finger and thumb in my mouth and let out the signature whistle. Within seconds, Pete popped out of the bushes and ran over to me. He looked me over, confused at who whistled to him before sniffing me. "Yeah, it's me, buddy." I reassured him. "I kinda changed my look a bit. What do you think?" Now sure that I was who I said I was, Pete smiled and gave me a thumbs up with his signature 'Pi, Pichu!'

"Oh, you got a Pichu, too!" Gold called out from the other side. "He got a nickname?"

"His name's Pete!" I called back. I looked over at Ms. Tensari, "So, can Pete be my partner here?"

She smiled and said, "The bond between you two seems strong. I look forward to how you two battle together." I'm going to take that as a yes.

I turned over to Pete and knelt down to discuss the situation. "Alright Pete, this isn't like target practice at home. This is a real battle. Remember all the videos I showed you?" I had showed him several videos of people battling from specials on T.V. Pete nodded to show he remembered. "Well, let's do just that, 'kay?" The sparks flying off his cheeks were the only answer I needed as we prepared for battle.

"Alright Quartz, I'm ready when you are!" Gold called from the other side. Pete looked at me funny at the mention of my new name and I gave a look that said 'I'll explain later' as he turned back.

"I'm ready!" I called out.

Ms. Tensari went to the referee's position in the midway point of the field. "The Supplementary Part of the Trainer's Equivalency Exam between Gold and Quartz shall now begin!"

Gold tossed a Pokéball into the air, "Poliwag, let's do this!" A Poliwag? He knows I'm using an Electric type, so why would he send out a Water type? I know he's limited to the 3 Pokémon he chose, but he's starting off with a disadvantage? If I remember correctly, during one of his interviews on TV, he showed that a Politoed is part of his main team, so he must have had a Poliwag at some point. Therefore he must know how to use it. I got to be on my toes.

"Pete, don't get too comfortable! He must have a plan!"

"You better believe I do!" Gold smiled as he called out his first command, "Poliwag, use Water Gun on the ground!" The small tadpole Pokémon burst a stream of water from its mouth on the ground, starting to turn the sandy field into mud. Thankfully, the rental Pokémon here were relatively low level, so Pete and I could close in on Poliwag before the entire playing field was altered.

"Pete use Tackle!" Pete ran up and smacked the Poliwag in the middle of its Water Gun attack, keeping the field a bit moist, but not too muddy. If the place got really muddy, it would have the same effect as Mud Sport and Pete's electric type moves would have been weakened.

"Poliwag, use Hypnosis!" Poliwag eyes began glowing and the swirl on its stomach seemed if it were spinning.

"Pete, turn around! Don't look at Poliwag!" Pete spun around and looked straight at me. As long as he didn't look at Poliwag, the hypnosis shouldn't take affect and Pete won't fall asleep. Time to see if all those months of target practice paid off. "Pete, use Thundershock at your 6 o'clock position!" Pete let out a burst of electricity directly behind him which made a direct hit with the Poliwag. Poliwag fell with swirls where its eyes were, meaning Poliwag was out of this competition.

"Poliwag is unable to battle, Pichu wins!"

"All right Pete!" I knelt down and gave him a high five. "That's one down, two to go!" Pete started punching the air with his paws as if to say 'Who's next?'

"Good work, Poliwag. Come back," Gold said, recalling the tadpole and reaching for his next Pokémon. "Pidgey, show him what's up!" The tiny bird took to the skies and stared down at Pete. He sent out yet another Pokémon weak to Electric types. Is it just the luck of the draw or is this part of his plan? He decided to not give me much time to think because he went straight on the offensive. "Pidgey, mix things up with Whirlwind!" Usually, Whirlwind sends a Pokémon back to its Pokéball, forcing a Trainer to switch, but in cases like these, where I neither had a Pokémon to switch into nor a Pokéball that Pete called his own, it just blew him backward. What's worse is that the move also spread the mud Poliwag created earlier giving the Mud Sport effect I was dreading. Now, my electric type attacks were going to do less.

Well, I wasn't going to get anywhere moping about it, so we continued our attacks. "Pete, Thundershock!" Pete, now able to face his target without the threat of falling asleep, did a 180° spin before sending burst after burst of electricity.

"Pidgey, use all of the sky above the arena to dodge those attacks," Gold commanded. Unfortunately, as a Pichu, Pete's shocks couldn't reach all too far and Pidgey was able to dodge them all. "Perfect," Gold called out, "Now use Aerial Ace!"

For a low level Pidgey, Aerial Ace was a pretty powerful move. I knew this was one of those unavoidable moves like that Aura Sphere that shot me out of the sky yesterday, so I decided that we should just attack head-on. "Pete, use Tackle!" Pete ran straight at the bird flying at him like a game of chicken. Although in this game of chicken, neither side was willing to give in and Pidgey's Aerial Ace was stronger, leading to Pete being sent flying back. However, as the Pidgey flew back to Gold's side of the field, I saw Pete give me a secret thumbs up, meaning he got the plan I was going for. "Pete, charge right at it with Volt Tackle!"

Gold was extremely shocked at me calling out the legendary move Volt Tackle and was a bit late in getting Pidgey to dodge therefore getting Pete a direct hit, knocking out his Pidgey. "Pete knows the Ultimate Electric Type move?" he said as he returned his bird. "How?"

"I'm not sure. When I met him, he just happened to know it." I'm guessing one of his parents held a Light Ball, because if I remember correctly, that's usually how Pichu can be born with the move. "However, he hadn't mastered it then. We've been practicing and we've got its success rate to about 50% of the time."

"So that last move was just luck?"

"Not entirely," I explained. "After the collision, Pete gave me a sign."

"What do you mean by that?" Ms. Tensari popped in a question here.

"He gave me the thumbs up," I smiled. "It meant he was sure that Pidgey was affected by his Static ability."

"IT WAS?" both Gold and his girlfriend exclaimed.

"Yep," I told them. "We charged into Pidgey with Tackle so when Aerial Ace hit us, we could see whether or not Static would take effect. When it did, all we needed was Volt Tackle to succeed since Pidgey being paralyzed made it an easy to hit target. Luckily, the 50-50 odds were in our favor."

Ms. Tensari smiled and said, "Well done. With that, Pichu wins Round 2." Pete jumped and gave a "who's next" pose.

Gold pulled out the last Pokémon he chose. "It's far from over!" he called. He didn't know how right he was. Despite how easy I may have made this look, I knew behind Pete's strong façade that he was almost out of energy. The other flaw in our Volt Tackle besides it only working 50% of the time was that it gave Pete far more recoil damage than a normal Volt Tackle. Pete might be able to take one more Pokémon, just as long as the third Pokémon Gold picked wasn't- "GEODUDE, LET'S GO!"

For the love of Arceus, why did he have to choose Geodude? There was a 1 in 4 chance of him picking the one Pokémon that was a perfect matchup against Pete. I debated the possible choices. If I stay in, I can demonstrate my skills against an unfavorable matchup and that could seal the deal on me passing the Trainer's Equivalency Exam, but Pete would end up getting wrecked. Or I could surrender here, heal up Pete, and hope for the best on the Exam results. Although Plan A would have worked better for me, it wasn't my choice to make, it was Pete's.

I went up to Pete and gave him the two scenarios. I gave him the positives and negatives of both choices and waited for his answer. Pete turned toward the Geodude with an enthusiastic cry and sparks forming in its cheeks. I agreed with his decision under the clause that it things got rough, we'd retreat.

Gold waited for us to come to our conclusion before asking, "You ready for Round 3?"

"Let's go!" I yelled. With Geodude being part Ground type meant all my Electric type moves were useless against it. However, with the Mud Sport-like battlefield, I wasn't planning on using any more Electric type moves anyway. "Pete, get some distance!" If we were going to win, we were going to have to play defensively.

"Not so fast," Gold said. "Geodude throw mud at Pete!" Geodude began picking up the mud and throwing it as if this was the Safari Zone. Pete successfully dodged the first couple of throws, but the muddy floor finally got its desired affect causing Pete to slip and fall. "Geodude, now's your chance, Tackle!"

"Pete, get out of there!" I yelled, but unfortunately Pete couldn't get out in time. Pete was sent flying, but got right back up after he fell. If Pete seemed like he was willing to keep going, who was I to say no? "Pete use Tackle!" Pete began his charge toward the rock creature.

"Not if I can help it Geodude, use Harden!" Geodude took a defensive stance and started to shine as it heightened its defensive capabilities. Pete was able to land solid Tackle, but the heightened defense of the Geodude coupled with the fact of the already unfavorable matchup made the attack pretty much ineffective. Gold took advantage of Pete's fatigue and called out, "Geodude, Rock Tomb!" With that, the floating rock Pokémon threw several rocks toward Pete that almost took Pete out.

Looking at the battle, I decided that Pete was reaching his limit. Not only was Pete exhausted from taking on two prior opponents, that previous move: Rock Tomb had an added affect. When hit by that move, the speed of a Pokémon was decreased. With almost no strength left and his speed stat lowered, Pete had no chance of winning.

Usually, Trainers would battle until a Pokémon had become unable to battle since they could rest upon returning to their Pokéball. In Pete's case, he didn't officially have his own Pokéball yet. Therefore, he'd have to wait to visit a Pokémon Center before he was back to full strength and with the time it would take to bring him there, the situation could get worse with no form of rest in between. 'Pete stills wants to go on,' I thought watching him struggle back up. 'But, he can't go 100% in this battle or he'll be in real danger.' Continuing would most likely ensure my passing of the Trainer's Equivalency Exam, but the risk was too great.

"Ms. Tensari," I called, raising my hand as the battle paused and as Pokémon, Trainer, and referee turned towards me. "I'd like to withdraw from the match."

She gave me a confused look, asking, "Why, do you have a specific reason?"

"Without an actual Pokéball, Pete doesn't have a way to rest if he loses this battle," I explained. "I'd prefer it if I could ensure his safety rather than risk an accident."

She looked at me before turning towards Gold. He nodded at her and the both turned to me with smiles. "Alright," she said. She turned back to the arena before raising her arm to signify the end of the battle, "The winner of this match is Gold!"

"Good show, little man!" Gold called over as he returned the last of the rental Pokémon he used.

I went over to Pete to see if he was mad at my surrender. "Sorry Pete, but you were no shape to continue." Pete tried to stand up straighter to go against my reasoning but ended up falling over in exhaustion. As he tried to stand up again and pretend that never happened, I laughed at the determination he showed.

"So Crys," Gold said as he returned the Pokémon he rented for the battle, "What's your conclusion?" I turned to Ms. Tensari to see whether or not I passed.

"Quartz," she said turning to me, "Despite your loss, you displayed confidence and strategy alongside compassion for your Pokémon; therefore proving you have what it takes to be a Trainer. Congratulations, you've passed the Trainer's Equivalency Exam."

"YES!" I screamed as I jumped for joy. "Pete, we've done it!" I knelt down and gave a fist bump to the small mouse that was my partner. Ms. Tensari took out a pouch and pulled a Sitrus Berry which she gave to Pete so he could recover from the previous battle.

After returning to the main building and filling out some forms, my picture was taken and in a few minutes, I was handed a card. "Quartz, for your passing of the T.E.E, or Trainer's Equivalency Exam, I present you with a Trainer Card, proof of your ability to train Pokémon!"

As I took the card, I looked over the picture and the name: Quartz Dorima. To tell the truth, whenever I dreamt of this moment, I had my actual name and I kept my original look (minus the ponytail, I planned to cut that off anyway). However, I felt that although both my appearance and name were different, the person I was on the inside was the same. The real me was still Zircon Idaisa, son of Titanium Idaisa, previous Champion of the Pokémon League. I was just currently using Quartz as a shell, and hopefully, sometime in the future, I can crawl out of this shell and return to being Zircon. Until that day, I was Quartz Dorima.

"So Quartz," Gold said, breaking me out of my little "identity realization" moment, "You want to go grab some lunch? My treat, think of it as a congratulatory gift on becoming a Trainer! Hey, Super Serious Gal, you wanna join us?"

"Well, I am done with classes for the day," Ms. Tensari responded. "Emerald did promise me he'd take care of my duties at the orphanage today, so that should give me some time before I have to go help the Professors with their research." She smiled before finishing, "As long as you're paying!" She laughed as we left the school while Gold started looking at his wallet to make sure he had enough money.

Before we set out, Ms. Tensari told me how that because I was officially a Trainer, I was allowed to get a starter from New Bark Town. I quickly decided against doing that because I didn't want to risk the chance that Professor Elm would recognize me. The real reason however, was that I remembered that I had to complete a promise I made several years ago. I pulled out a Luxury Ball from my backpack and pointed at Pete. "Pete, you ready to begin our journey?" Pete gave me a determined look before jumping and pressing the button on the Pokéball as he shrunk down and entered the ball. The ball wiggled a few times before finally beeping, signifying a successful capture. I immediately let Pete out, as he and I have always been a team, and I felt keeping him in the Pokéball put a type of wall between us. I pointed to Pete, signaling to Ms. Tensari that Pete was my starter Pokémon, and I felt as if I didn't need another. As we walked together side by side, I felt that I could honestly say that Step 3 was complete.

Afterwards, we went to a nearby burger place and grabbed some lunch. As we sat down at a table and ate our burgers, I gave Pete some Pokémon food on the side as Ms. Tensari said, "Tell me something Quartz. Even though you just officially caught Pete, why hasn't he evolved?"

I put down my burger and asked, "What do you mean?"

"You see, Pichu evolves into Pikachu via happiness. This usually happens when Pokémon and Trainer are extremely close, but there are occasions where wild Pokémon who are close to people still evolve despite not being owned by them. From what I've seen, you and Pete seem to have a close enough connection."

She made a good point. I've known Pete for about 4 years now and we've gotten rather close. We made the pact to become Trainer and starter years ago, so if it was an issue of being officially caught, he would evolved upon me catching him so that wasn't it. I looked over Pete and realized something. "Ms. Tensari, Does it have anything to do with the rock around his neck?"

She took a closer look at Pete's necklace and thought it over for a bit. "It looks like an ordinary rock…"

Gold cut in, "Where'd he get the rock anyway?" I explained how Pete always carried the rock around with him, so I made him a makeshift necklace out of it.

"Seems like it might be an Everstone." Ms. Tensari said. "It's a stone that prevents evolution. It's what Trainers without a Pokédex use to keep their Pokémon from evolving." I looked over at Pete who was eating, unaware of our current conversation. "If you want to evolve your Pichu, you should probably take that off," she finished.

I thought about for a moment before shaking my head. "I think I'll leave it on for now." Ms. Tensari and Gold turned from Pete to me as I gave my reasoning. "Pete's always kept that rock close to him and whether he knows it keeping him from evolving or not, it's special to him. If it's keeping from evolving, I'm okay with that. That makes sense, right Ms. Tensari?"

"I guess in some way it does," she said. "By the way, we're not in the classroom, so you can call me Crystal."

"Okay. Thanks, Ms. Te-I mean Crystal-san." Based on her position as a Dexholder and the fact she was older than I was, I felt I needed some form of honorific attached to her name.

"Anyway," Gold said, hoping to change the conversation more exciting asked, "What do you plan to do, now that you're a Trainer?"

"Well, I plan to enter the next Pokémon League." Since Mom has won one, I thought I should give it I try as well. Well, Quartz should give it a try to be completely honest. "I guess in the time being, I'll train and try to get some Gym Badges, considering the fact that if I get 8 of them I can skip the preliminary rounds."

"So, you're the same as me!" He smiled and got a lot more excited.

"Wait, you don't have eight badges, yet?" He was _the_ Gold Kaito of the Dexholders, surely he was strong enough to get the eight badges of Johto.

"Well, ya see…" he started, scratching the back of his head, embarrassed.

"He never really knew about the extra rule that applied to people with badges." Crystal said quickly.

"WHAT?!" He really didn't know that? That's like basic Trainer 101!

"I never really thought it was that big of a deal." He shrugged. "Anyway, I'm going to collect them at my own pace until the next League. Apparently, the Goldenrod Radio and I got a contract going that they'll cover my trek conquering the Johto Gyms, and I get a small commission, thus giving me an income outside of basic Trainer battles."

"So how many badges do you have so far?" I asked.

"Four." He showed me the inside of his sweater pointing to them. "Got the Plain, Fog, Storm, and Hive Badges. Haven't gotten around to taking on Falkner, since I only come here to see Crys, but I guess since you're here, I can show you a proper Gym battle."

"Wait, isn't Falkner the first Gym Leader," I asked. "How did you get the other badges before him?"

Gold looked at me funny, "Wait there's an order?" He started to look worried. "Did I break some kind of rule? Super Serious Gal, tell me it isn't so!"

"Don't worry, Gold." She sighed and turned to us. "Quartz, you probably don't know this since it was actually a recent change by the Pokémon Association. You are right in saying that Gyms have been known to have orders on which they are faced, usually given on how far they are from the town where Trainers can get their starter Pokémon from the region's Professor." I remember learning that several years ago back when I attended the Pokémon Trainer's school before my Mom took me out. "However, the order was never forced to be followed, since lots of Trainers started far from towns like New Bark or Pallet and so on. Sure, the first Gyms they faced were harder than if they first went to Violet and took on Falkner, but that was how it worked until last year."

"What happened?"

"Well, you remember the Gym Leader Tournament that happened 10 years ago before the whole Mask of Ice fiasco?" Oh don't remind me. No one was allowed to leave my house for a year after that incident. However, she was noting the Gym Leader Tournament which happened before, where the Gym Leaders of Kanto and Johto faced off against each other. I nodded my head for her to continue. "Well, if you remember, some of the "lower ranked" Gym Leaders were fighting on equal terms with some of the "higher ranked" Gym Leaders of the opposite side. Now how is that possible if their rank is proportionate to their skill?" She made a good point there, I remember Falkner going head to head with Janine, who was known as Kanto's 5th Gym Leader at the time.

"You see, the Gym Leaders are all around an about equal skill level, save a few that generally outrank the rest, like Senior Green for example," she explained. She was talking about Green Oak, one of the leaders among the Dexholders. He was truly a Gym Leader who probably stood high above the others. "So," she continued. "The Pokémon Association decided that in order for Trainers to have an equal chance no matter where they started, the difficulty the Gym Leader sets for them depends on how many badges you have." Upon seeing the confused looks on both Gold and my faces, she sighed before elaborating. "Using Falkner as an example, if he were your first challenge, he'd use either one or two Pokémon against you. However, if Gold were to face him, as his 5th Gym challenge, Falkner would face him using around 3-4 Pokémon. From there, it continues and if you manage to get 7 badges, the 8th one will be a full 6 on 6 battle against said Gym Leader."

"So, what you're saying is that Quartz should wait and face Falkner as his last Gym Leader to make it an easy win, since his Pichu's got an advantage on Flying types?" Gold asked, thinking of strategies on how to beat the systems.

"Well, yes and no." Crystal explained. "While Gym Leaders do specialize on certain types, therefore making it easier for a Trainer to focus on using a type with an advantage, one of the basic tests put against a Trainer aiming for the position of Gym Leader is displaying the ability to overcome a disadvantage in battle." As she finished explaining, the three of us had already finished our meals and were just chatting while slowly finishing our drinks. "Therefore, whether a Gym where you have the advantage on is your first or last, it's no doubt going to be a challenge."

"So, no matter what order you face 'em, a Gym Leader's always going to be a challenge," I repeated, finishing up my soda. Crystal and Gold slowly turned their heads towards me to see my decision. "Since I'm already here, how about I just face the Gym Leaders in the order they were originally in. I'm most likely going to end up going on the same path most Trainers from New Bark travel, so might as well challenge Gym Leaders on the way in the same order they were originally intended to be." I was never one for formulating complicated strategies, so I decided that the simplest route would be the best choice.

While Crystal just looked at me as if I was some child rambling about impossible dreams, Gold started looking at me with a certain look in his eye that showed him scheming something. "So, Crys, what do you think?"

"Hmm, what about, his chances?" She took a good look at me; top to bottom then turned to Pete and did the same. "I give him 6 badges, max, and out after a few rounds in the preliminaries of the Pokémon League."

"Excuse me?" Are they sizing my potential after only knowing me for a couple hours?

"No offense Quartz, but out of the hundreds of Trainers that make it into the Pokémon League every 3 years, only around a dozen manage to get 8 badges in the time frame. It's not as easy as the textbooks make it sound. And let's not get started on any new Trainer's chances of winning." She closed her eyes before turning to Gold. "I mean, look at Gold. He is one of the most powerful Trainers I know, but even after almost a decade of training, he just made the runner-up in last year's Pokémon League tournament."

"Hey! It was my first time challenging the League! I would have won too, if it wasn't for that old lady, what's her face…"

"Titanium?" I tried.

"Yeah!" Gold said, snapping his fingers. "The one they call the 'Infallible Wall!'"

"That's what I mean," Crystal went on. "She's been training for possibly all her life, and she's finally reached the status of Champion. She even took a break from training after starting a family." Yeah, not that she's ever home. I've only ever seen her at major holidays like Christmas and New Year's. All the rest of the time, she's been improving her skills or challenging the Elite Four.

"However," Gold said after a long pause. "Every now and then, they say there's always someone who is considered a natural amongst all the newbies…" The lifted his head and looked at me straight in the eyes, as if trying to look in my soul or something.

"No…" Crystal looked at him, then turned to me and gave me a disbelieving look. "You think _he's_ got what it takes to reach the status of a Champion? No way…" I'm still a bit confused, what exactly are they arguing about?

"Not alone, but with a little guidance from a _certain pro,_ ya know what I mean?" Gold then straightened himself up and looked at me with a huge grin. "Hey Quartz, I'm about to make you the deal of a lifetime: you can be my new protégé! I'll bring you with me around the region, and by the time the next Pokémon League rolls around, I guarantee you'll have 8 badges and be almost as amazing as I am!"

"Phhhh, with your teaching skills?!" Crystal rolled her eyes. "Remember the last time you _tried_ to take someone under your wing? They gave up after a week and they spent a year at home before they finally had the courage to try going out on journey again!"

"I'm telling you, this kid's got what it takes! I can feel it from him!"

"You said the same thing about the last kid!"

"He was just a trial run. Quartz, now he's the real deal!" Gold mentioned over to me. "He's managed to make his way New Bark to Violet, obtained his Trainer's License, and lived through several encounters that would put most Trainers in the hospital with only minor injuries! And in only 1 day, no less! With my expert guidance, I am most certain he can be the next runner-up of the Pokémon League!"

"Runner-up?" Crystal and I both said at the same time.

"Well yeah, there's no way the student's surpassing the master here." He motioned to himself as if he were an all-powerful being of sorts. "I may have lost last year, but this year's my time to shine!" He then turned to me. "So, Quartz my man, what do ya say? Wanna be the Johto's next Top Trainer?"

"Uhhhhhh…" I had no words. This guy was taking a huge gamble on me. Yeah, the accomplishments I made over the last day were no joke, but let's face it; most of what happened was probably just luck. Besides, Gold seems to have a lot of danger follow him. The guy is usually in the center of any dangerous occurrences in the surrounding region and he wants to take me for the ride? I was recently just hoping for a simple everyman journey and now I'm being offered the chance of a lifetime. "I'm not sure if-"

"That doesn't sound like a no!" Gold grabbed me and pulled me into a headlock which I assume was an attempt at a hug. "From now on, you're with me!"

"I didn't say y-" I tried to squeeze out as he let me go as I fell onto the floor.

As I fell to the floor, Crystal gave me a sympathetic look. "Sorry about this, but when Gold's mind is set, there's no changing it. You're stuck with him for at least a month." WHAT?! "Gold, I'm giving him a month, max two months before one of you gives up on the other." I'm ready to give up _now!_

"Hmmm, care to make it interesting?" Gold said with a smirk and a challenging tone.

"Oh, you're that confident?" Crystal replied in voice that seemed to be accepting his challenge.

"You better believe it, what are the conditions you wanna set Super Serious?" he said as he got up from his seat.

Getting up from her seat Crystal looked him dead in the eyes, "8 badges and at least runner-up in the Pokémon League, you said you could take him there yourself."

"I _can_ and I _will_." He smiled and looked back at her.

I slowly raised my hand and said, "Um, do I get a say in this?"

"Quartz, Mommy and Daddy are talking right now, stay out of this," Gold said, not leaving the staring contest he was having with his girlfriend. "So, you wanna bet the usual?"

"Whoever loses pays for the winner's rent for the month?" Crystal asked, determination behind her glasses.

"Sounds fine with me." Gold said with a smirk. "But let's make it different this time, double or nothing." He then held out his hand awaiting the handshake.

Crystal took his hand and shook it firmly. "It's a bet. You better save up your money, my rent's not gonna pay itself."

Gold shook his head with a wide grin. "Sorry, but that's my line. Hope your teacher's salary can cover 2 months' worth of rent on a Goldenrod apartment!" He then turned and looked straight at me. "All right Quartz, Gold Kaito's Official Boot Camp starts right now!" He walked up to me, grabbed me by the collar and dragged me out into Route 32.

 **January 21** **st** **-Saffron City, Kanto-8:00 PM**

 **Normal POV**

 **Meanwhile…**

A great flash of light appeared high above the sky of Saffron City. Out of the flash a blue dragon appeared and descended in front of the local Pokémon Gym in the city which was known as the heart of the Kanto region. The Trainer atop the dragon hopped off and returned his dragon to its Pokéball before he entered the building.

Clyde, the glassed wearing guide of the Gym walked up to the black haired Trainer, greeting him like does with all challengers. "Hello, Welcome to the Saffron City Gym! My name is Clyde, and I'll be-"

"I already have this Gym's Badge." One look from the man's blood-red eyes made sure his message: 'Get out of my way unless you want to die,' went through without failure.

"G-g-g-go r-r-right ahead."

After casually making his way past all the Gym Trainers and warp panels he finally reached the Leader's room where he walked slowly to one corner of the battlefield.

The Gym Leader, Sabrina, lifted her head from the chair she was sitting in to see the challenger. "Ah, Garnet, I've been expecting you. I've had a vision of-"

"Cut the psychic crap already. If you're really psychic, you should already know why I'm here." Garnet snapped, his voice filled with rage.

"I take it my source wasn't any help." She looked at his eyes for her answer and sighed. "It's too bad you made the trip all the way here. Truth is, I'm going to Unova first thing tomorrow morning. I got a role in one of the movies over at PokéStar-"

"Do I look like I care?"

"Impatient, aren't we?" She got up from her chair and walked up to the other side of the battlefield. "So, what do you want cuz I know you're obviously not here for a Gym Battle?"

Garnet pulled out a Pokéball and took a battle stance. "Let's discuss it over a battle. I win, you give me the information I need, and don't try lying. We both know I can read you like a book."

Sabrina shook her head before waving her hand over to a desk holding 6 Pokéballs. Her bracelets glowed as she telekinetically lifted a Pokéball into her hand. "It seems like your trip to Unova did you some good. Your old method would have been along the lines of 'Tell me what you know if you value your life!'" She chuckled before throwing her Pokéball, summoning her most powerful Pokémon, an Alakazam. "Don't tell me you've gone soft."

"Remember, I'm only letting you live because of the information you provide. Once I have no use for you, I'll kill you." Garnet put the Pokéball back on his belt and took out a different one. "Let's make this quick, cousin." He then threw the Pokéball in the air, releasing his Pokémon as the battle began.

 **Chapter 2 done! So, the main plot has been set. Zircon/Quartz's journey has begun and is now training under Gold. Gold now has about a year and half to make a capable Trainer out of our unwilling protagonist.**

 **I'm going to explain here certain things in the chapter and what inspired them.**

 **-As it is pretty clearly stated: MangaQuest Shipping is canon in this story.**

 **-When the battle part of the exam starts with trays coming out of wall, I'm comparing it to how Brock/ Giovanni pulled out the Pokémon they used in the Pokémon Origins Special Episode.**

 **-Also, I based the whole new badge system over how it works in the anime. For example, in the BW saga, Ash's eighth badge is against Roxie, when in the games; she's the second Gym Leader. Besides, it makes sense because not every Pokémon Trainer is born in the starting towns Pallet, New Bark, Littleroot, etc.**

 **-This story begins around the end of the B/W arc of the manga, and in the beginning of the B2/W2 arc, Sabrina is already an actress over at PokéStar Studios, so I'm basing this as where she starts. Also, Sabrina is using her HGSS outfit, so that's what I mean by "glowing psychic bracelets."**

 **As for Names:**

 **Quartz Dorima** **\- As I explained, the contacts have made Zircon's reddish eyes into a clearer blue-like color, thus the name Quartz. Like Zircon before, I know that the color of Quartz can vary, but for the sake of this story, it's a clear blue. As for Dorima, it's just the Romanji version of "Dreamer" after written in katakana.**

 **Crystal Tensari** **\- As we all know, Crystal's name comes from the game/ her eye color. However, Tensari was formed by combining** **天才** **-** **Tensai (Genius in Japanese) and** **玻璃** **-** **Hari (a variation of Crystal/Glass in Japanese).**

 **-Lastly, I've posted my own artwork of Zircon (As Quartz), Gold, Crystal (As Teacher and normal look), and lastly Garnet as I've imagined them in this story. They're on my Deviant Art page-link is under my Bio.**

 **Ages:**

 **Zircon/ Quartz-16**

 **Gold/Crystal-21**

 **Garnet-21**

 **With that, that's the end of my excessively long post chapter A/N. I just put these things at the end so I can explain certain scenes and how I pictured them because sometimes I feel the description in the story might seem confusing. It's also part of why I draw my characters, whether my drawing sucks or just passes for adequate. Anyway, I want to thank you for reading, reviewing, and I'll see next chapter.**

 **-MateiFire**


	3. Training 101

**Hello, and welcome to Chapter 3 of** _ **Defiance**_ **! Sorry, it's been forever, I'll explain at the end. First off, thanks to anyone who has read the story so far! I'm pretty small on FanFiction, so I was amazed to find out that people found this story in whatever small corner of the site I'm on! Like I said before, I'll save most of my talking for the end of the chapter, so I'll shut up for now. Anyway, Thanks For Reading!**

 **DISCLAIMER:** **I don't own Pokémon, whether it be the games, anime, or manga. If I did, PokéSpe would have its own anime.**

 **Chapter 3: Training 101**

 **January 21st-Saffron City, Kanto-8: 15 P.M.**

 **Normal POV**

"Mr. Mime use Light Screen!" Sabrina called out to her mime-like Pokémon. The creature mimed a wall in front of its self before it materialized into a wall of energy that it hid behind, bracing for the attack.

"Shadow Ball," was the low reply from Garnet. From behind a cloud of smoke a dark purple ball of energy emerged and broke through the shield a hit the mime Pokémon dead on and forced it to slam into the nearest wall.

"Mr. Mime, NO!" Sabrina ran over to her Pokémon who had swirls where its eyes were and marks all over its body. She returned it to its Pokéball, and glared back at Garnet who was returning his own Pokémon. "H-how did you do that? You took out my entire team, each with only one hit. Even Mr. Mime, my most defensive Pokémon…and it had a Light Screen up. What is up with that Pokémon?"

"That's none of your business." Garnet said plainly walking up to her. "Now I suggest you start talking, or your casting director is going to need to recast your role."

Sabrina looked down, cursing the man in front of her. "Why do you keep coming to me? I haven't been a member of Team Rocket for years."

"I don't have another source that's reliable enough to keep alive," he replied, voice getting angrier by the second.

"What do I have that the other ex-Rockets don't?" she asked, almost on the verge of tears.

"Well, for one, you're a Gym Leader," Garnet began. Sabrina looked up, confused at his response. "As a Gym Leader, you're practically a government official. It's the same case for Lt. Surge and Koga, they're both are part of the government now." He looked up and clenched his fists tightly before continuing. "It sucks, but no matter what my reasoning, I can't just go around killing Gym Leaders or members of the Elite 4."

"Then why don't you go to them?" Sabrina yelled out. "Why do you always come to me?"

Garnet turned away before responding, "Something about talking to probably my last blood relative makes me feel less …" he paused before finishing, "violent. I get the feeling you're less likely to lie." Sabrina got to her feet as she looked at her cousin.

"C-Carr," she stuttered. "Carr, one of Team Rocket's 3 Beasts. He was the one who tried to revive Team Rocket most recently. If anyone knows anything about Giovanni, it's him!"

Garnet looked back at her with his eyes shining red. "Where can I find him?"

"Johto." Sabrina said, stepping back from his glare. "He's in jail somewhere in Johto."

Garnet turned and headed to the warp panel leading to the exit. "Enjoy your trip, cuz. I'll be in touch." Sabrina's eyes calmed as she saw him vanish from her room of the Gym and dropped to her knees as she gasped for air.

 **January 21** **st** **-Route 32, Johto**

 **Meanwhile…**

 **Zircon/Quartz POV**

OOF! I was dropped on the floor after being dragged from the middle of Violet City to the Route south of it. Pete ran up to me, having followed us after he finished his food. Gold stood above me and pulled out his billiard cue before sticking it into the ground.

"Quartz Dorima," he called out not looking at me but straight forward.

"Uh, yea?" I mumbled, still unsure of what was going on. Gold said something out of the corner of his mouth in a low voice but I couldn't make it out. "What?"

"You're supposed to say 'present,'" he said again, a bit louder. What does he think this is, a classroom?

I got to my feet and dusted myself before looking at him strangely. "Present?"

"Welcome to Gold's Boot Camp!" He yelled out. "Lesson 1 shall be basic Trainer 101!" I sweatdropped as he was yelling while I was only a few feet away from him. He was aware that Trainer 101 was what the entire exam I finished taking was testing, right?

"Uh, Gold-san-"

"I am your teacher now! You will address me as Kaito-sensei!" Correct me if I'm wrong, but did he not just tell me to call him Gold several hours ago?

"Okay, Kaito-sensei-"

"You know what, go back to Gold. Kaito-sensei makes me feel like Super Serious Gal, it's kinda weird," he said in his normal voice, completely throwing off his previous commander façade. Choose a title already! He cleared his throat before continuing, still in his normal tone, "Well, welcome to Training 101, the first step in me teaching you how to be a top Trainer!" He smiled and finally looked down so he was looking at me instead of empty space in front of him. "You ready?"

I'm still trying to process what happened in the past, what is it, five minutes? Gold and Crystal seemed to be either arguing my potential as a trainer, and it's led to me being forced to be Gold's protégé, am I right? I must have spaced out because he started waving his hand in front of my face to see if I was there. I had no idea what he said, so I went with the safe answer, "Yes."

"Great, all right, how many Pokémon do you have?" He can't be serious. I've been a trainer for 2, 3 hours max, and he's been with me the entire time. I decided not to make this too complicated and pointed at Pete. "So, you've got a Pichu! Sounds like a good start!"

"Uh, Gold-san?" I tried to cut-in. I better get some words in before he tries to start teaching me the basics again.

"What's up?"

"Um, you've kinda been with me the entire time I've been a Trainer. Can we cut the formalities or whatever you're trying to do here and get started?"

Gold grinned widely and stood up tall. Oh, Arceus, this can't be good. "An eager one, are we, eh? Well then, since you've already got the advantage on flying types covered, let me call up Falkner and set you up a match." He pulled out his PokéGear and scrolled through his contact list. "Don't worry; we go way back, I'm sure I can put together a match for you."

"That's not what I meant…" I tried but he was already calling. "I don't think I'm ready for a Gym Match yet…"

"Nonsense!" he yelled. "I saw you battle, and you got what it takes!" He grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to see his screen since his PokéGear had video chat. The screen flashed before a man with blue hair parted to the right, bangs covering his right eye, in a police officer's uniform.

"Hello, this is Falkner," he said calmly. Wait, this is a cop; isn't Falkner a Gym Leader? The man got a closer look at who was on the other said of the video call, and upon his realization he closed his eyes and pinched his forehead as he shook his head and sighed. That's not a good sign.

"Hey Falkner, it's Gold, how ya been?" Gold answered in a cheery voice. He looked at Falkner's uniform and said, "What's with the getup, you going to costume party or somethin'?"

"Gold, you know I'm a part-time police officer!" he said, irritated.

"Really?" he asked confused. "How long this been going on?"

"Since you met me 10 years ago!" he yelled, angry veins on the side of his head clearly visible. Now I'm no genius, but I know that aggravating an officer isn't the brightest idea in the world. "Forget it," Falkner said, calming down a bit. "What do you want, I'm busy."

"Well," Gold began, as innocently as possible, "I was wondering if I could schedule a couple Gym battles today. You see, I took on an apprentice and we were hoping to see if we could challenge you today."

Falkner shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, but today I'm wor -Wait, did you just say apprentice?" Gold nodded and turned the PokéGear toward me until I was on the camera. Falkner focused his eyes on me and asked, "What's your name, kid?"

"Q-Quartz," I stammered. Was changing my identity a crime? If it is, then I just lied to a cop. That's two crimes right there, which could lead to me ending up in jail. I looked at the screen to see Falkner close his eyes and bow, "May Arceus have mercy on your soul, Quartz." Huh? He turned to Gold and said, "If you'd like, you can issue a challenge tomorrow, the Gym opens at 9."

"Okay, sounds cool." Gold said, moving the screen back to himself. "Thanks, Falkner, see ya tomorrow!" Falkner nodded and then disappeared as the screen when black. Gold then checked his PokéGear before turning to me. "Okay, so it seems that we'll have to wait for tomorrow until we can face Falkner. In the meantime…" Gold pointed his billiard cue at several birds in the sky. "WE TRAIN! Aibo, knock them down to our level!" Gold used his billiard cue to shoot out a Pokéball into the sky until it was above the birds, where a purple monkey Pokémon with two tails that each had a hand at the ends came out and attacked.

Within seconds, Pete was facing hordes of Pidgey's, Spearow's, and other kinds of flying type Pokémon. The good news was that most of them were low level, so a couple Thundershocks were enough to take them out. Unfortunately, for every one Pidgey or other bird Pokémon that was taken out, two or three more joined the fray. If that wasn't bad enough, I learned that bird Pokémon usually have a lot of tenacity and continue fighting even after being taken down. I understand Gold's idea of this being a training exercise, but we could only keep going for so long. I turned to Gold, hoping that he could help but instead I saw him checking his PokéGear, completely ignoring the entire situation.

"Well," he said as he stood up straight. "I see you got your work cut out for you, so I'm going to make a quick trip to Goldenrod, get my things in order and such."

"Wait, you're not helping me out?" I managed to make out while dodging several Spearow who are starting to get past Pete.

"Quartz, these birds are really all low level, you should be able to take them on with no problem," he said as if I was making a big deal out of it.

"But Gold-san, that's not the issue-"

"I'll just be gone for about a couple minutes!" he called out, already mounting the white fairy-like Pokémon he used to shoot me out of the sky yesterday. "Worst case scenario, I take a half-hour!" With that, he flew off into the sky, headed for Goldenrod City. As he flew off, his purple dual tailed monkey Pokémon, an Ambipom, nicknamed Aibo, crossed its arms as if it was taking charge in Gold's place.

Unfortunately, Aibo was as useless in helping me as Gold was. Within minutes of Gold's departure, Pete was starting to run low on steam. The nonstop use of Thundershock to keep the flocks of birds at bay was starting to get to him, and he's the only thing keeping those birds from tearing us to shreds. Meanwhile, instead of helping us, Aibo was standing there watching, occasionally whacking a Pidgey that got too close to it. To add on, every time Pete and I had an opening that we could use to run, it blocked our path. I'm guessing its job was to keep an eye on us in case I tried to escape my excuse for a teacher.

With no chance of running and being trapped in a dome of hostile birds, I decided that I was going to need to take a risk. "Pete, it's all or nothing! Use Volt Tackle!" Pete nodded and ran straight at a wall of birds, cloaking himself in electricity as he ran faster and faster. However, the 50-50 odds were not in our favor and right before he reached the shell of Pidgey's, his lighting armor fizzled out and he was bounced right back. "Okay," I said, bummed that operation Volt Tackle was a flop, "Let's go back to continuous Thundershocks!"

After a few rounds of Thundershocks, Pete fell down to one knee, officially out of juice. The storm of birds flew out as if preparing to strike the final blow. I ran up to Pete to pick him up when I saw him point at Aibo, who was still watching on the sidelines. 'If you really think about it, he was the one that attacked them in the first place,' I thought. I took a deep breath and yelled as I pointed at the Ambipom, "Attack him! He's the one who hit you out of the sky!" As I did this Pichu squeaked out what I can only guess was the equivalent in Pokémon language. The flock of birds took a second to comprehend what was said before locking on to their new target and turning away from us. The purple monkey gave us a look of betrayal before it was interrupted by a swarm of birds constantly attacking it.

Now out of the battle, Pete and I leaned against a tree on the side where we did some quick first aid: a Potion for him and couple Band-Aids here and there for myself. Too bad there isn't some spray that just fixes up wounds for us humans, isn't it. Afterward, we sat back and watched the monkey fend off wave after wave of Pidgey's and Spearow's. It's not like it was much of a challenge for it, after all it is Gold's strongest Pokémon, but the problem for it was the same as it was for us. After hundreds of Pokémon take you on over and over, it starts to wear down on you. Our show continued on for about 20 minutes until a giant burst of electricity came from the sky, causing all the birds to finally disperse.

"Aibo, I told you to watch them, not fight their battle for them," was the voice of a teacher who finally returned to the scene on his Togebo. Pete and I got up and walked over as the Ambipom pointed as us, making irritated sounds as we got there. Gold returned his Togebo before turning over to us.

"Hehehe," I started, scratching the back of my head, embarrassed. "You see, Gold-san, Pete here kind of ran out of gas, so we directed their attention towards Aibo here."

"Is that so?" he asked looking over at us before back to his Pokémon, who continued to glare at Pete and me. "Nice!" he said with a large grin.

"I know it was wrong, and I'm sor-Wait, what?!"

"Hey, you guys fought until you were out of power, right?" The two of us nodded slowly, still confused. "Well, when there's no way to fight, being able to get out of danger is a valuable tool." He looked over at his Ambipom, "Even if the only way to do that is to push the danger onto someone else." That is some twisted way of thinking. Gold chuckled before returning Aibo to his Pokéball. From within the ball, Aibo gave him a look of betrayal before getting that he was there to help me with my "training exercise."

"So, uh-Gold-san?" I asked as he turned to me. "Not to be disrespectful or anything, but what took you so long?!" He better have a good reason for ditching me with an entire army of pissed off birds.

"Well," he began taking a deep breath as if he was starting a big speech, "I decided that if I'm going to guiding you throughout the region, I won't be able to stop at home every day." He pointed over to his back where a large backpack replaced the messenger bag he usually carried. "So, since I can't pay for us to stay somewhere every day, I broke out the old camping equipment. And since I was already there, I decided to arrange my items and Pokémon team."

"And, what part of this plan does getting the entire Pidgey race to attack me help?" I asked, still not letting him off the hook.

He looked at me confused. "Um, it's part of your training. I thought I made that clear before." He shook his head before smiling. "I mean from all that, you and Pete must have made some tremendous experience." Yeah, traumatic experience. "So, did you catch any?"

"Catch what?"

"Pidgey, Spearow, any of those birds that attacked you!" he said. "You're a trainer now, aren't you?" I gave myself a mental facepalm. ALL THOSE POKEMON. And I didn't try to catch one. "Eh, it's okay, what's important was you made it out, right?" he said as he slapped me on the shoulder.

I remembered the flash of lightning that finally got rid of the birds and asked, "Gold-san, were you the one that scared off all those birds?"

He grinned and held out a Pokéball, containing a Pichu, whose fur atop its head was tousled in the same manner as Gold's explosive hair. "That was Pibu's Super Rising Thunder."

"Super…Rising…Thunder?" I asked, making sure I heard that right. Now I'm no expert on Pokémon moves, but I'm as sure as the fact that Munchlax is always hungry that Super Rising Thunder isn't the name of a known attack.

"It's actually Volt Tackle, but Pibu has the ability to shoot out the power like a Thundershock instead of ramming itself into its opponent, so I've dubbed that technique: Super Rising Thunder," he explained.

"A Volt Tackle minus the actual Tackle? That's amazing!" It was a method to completely cut out the recoil damage the made Volt Tackle the double-edged sword that it was. The name however, could probably use a little changing.

"I guess it is," Gold said, grinning.

"Will you teach us it?" I asked with Pete at my side bouncing about, his earlier fatigue now gone. This could actually be a way he could legitimately teach me without just throwing me into some situation and hoping I get out alive like he did with the Pidgey's.

"Not right now," he said as my partner and I groaned. "You just started training this morning. That technique is way too high a level for you. Maybe after you master the normal Volt Tackle." He looked up at the night sky and checked his PokéGear. "In any case, we should start going to bed. We both got a match against a Gym Leader tomorrow morning, and both we and our Pokémon will need rest." He pulled off his backpack and took out a sleeping bag. "Since we'll be doing this a bit more frequently until we get some cash, let's camp out here for tonight. Find a tree and sleep under that for the night. Don't worry about wild Pokémon; most of them sleep at night and nocturnal Pokémon usually only attack if you piss them off."

I nodded and took out my own sleeping bag and set myself up against a tree. I decided to let Pete sleep outside his Pokéball and he ended up setting himself upon my head as I lay down.

"Alright, Quartz, we a big day ahead of us, night." Gold lay down and within minutes, he was fast asleep.

"Night," I said softly, watching the stars as my teacher slept against a nearby tree and Pete slept atop my head. A lot had happened in the last 24 hours. I've become a Trainer, become a DexHolder's student, and come tomorrow morning, I'll be taking on my first Gym Leader. There's been a bit of a bumpy road getting here, but I'm finally a Trainer. I've dreamt of this moment for so many years, and it's finally here. Meeting Gold and becoming his protégé wasn't part of the plan, but if I really think about it, it'll probably end up being something that helps me move forward in the end. As eccentric as he might be, he's one of the DexHolders, and they're not the heroes among Trainers for no reason. Although his teaching skills and methods might be questionable, if I stick it out, he could turn me into one of the best newcomers out there.

I let my mind wander from topics such as tomorrow's Gym Match and strategies to use to any future adventures before finally reaching the topic of home. It's been about 2 days since I left, and there's been no sign of anyone realizing my absence. If Mom decided to stop by the house to check on me and I was nowhere to be found, in less than an hour, my face would be the top story on every news station and the bounty on my head would probably be higher than some of the top criminals in Johto. The maximum amount of time that I can get before news gets out is 5 days, when Dad returns from Hoenn and notices I'm gone. In that time, I've gotta blend into society and get as far away from home as possible. Gah! Why am I thinking about this now? I have a plan, all I have to do is follow it and if things get complicated, I'll figure something out. There's no turning back so the only plan of action is to keep moving forward. All this inward arguing is making me tired! I'm going to sleep! I threw myself into my sleeping bag to show myself I was serious and within a few minutes, I was asleep.

 **January 22nd-Route 32, Johto-8:00 A.M.**

 **The next morning…**

I awoke drenched in water. Gold decided that if this training was called "Gold's Boot Camp," the training should be as harsh as he could think of. Now 8 A.M. isn't exactly "Boot Camp" standards of early, but my mentor wasn't about to force himself awake anytime earlier. Anyway, Gold got his green frog Pokémon, Polibo, to spray water at my face until I woke up. He offered to dry me off with his Fire Type Pokémon but I chose the method of having the sun dry me off instead of getting burnt. We went into town and got breakfast as Gold gave me the rundown of what he had planned for the day.

"Alright, I'll take on Falkner first so you can watch and see the basic structure of a Gym challenge," he said. "You watch and take notes or whatever people do nowadays." I nodded and basically jotted down notes in my head. Speaking of which, 'Note to Self: Buy a Notepad.' "After I inevitably end up beating Falkner and getting through my interviews-"

"What do mean by interviews?" I intervened. I know when people win badges, the cameras in the Gym take a picture of them to post it on Trainer's Center later in the evening, but I didn't know they did interviews.

"Don't worry, it's just a me thing," he reassured me. "Remember yesterday when I told you about how I got a deal going on with Goldenrod Radio where they'd cover my trek throughout the Gyms; it's nothing major, really. They get a story of a DexHolder's journey to the top and I get some extra spending money." Sounds like a good deal to me. If I wasn't so worried about getting recognized, I'd try to get a bit of that action. "As I was saying," Gold continued, "then your turn comes, I'll watch and see how you do. Hopefully you also fight Falkner and best-case scenario we both leave with badges. Sounds like a plan?" he held out his hand for a high-five.

"Sounds like a plan, Stan," I joked as I high-fived him and we headed to the Gym.

The Gym's outside was a lot like Sprout Tower in terms that it was really tall pagoda-like building. Upon entering there were two lanes with turnstiles, one for challengers and one for guests. I went through the one for guests as the first time around, I would only be watching. Gold had to swipe his Trainer Card to go through where after going through, a computer screen and voice read and said, "Number of Badges: 4. Minimum required number of Gym Trainers to reach Gym Leader: 3." After a couple loading screens in big letters were "Welcome to the Violet City Gym!"

Gold turned to me to explain everything that just happened. "What just happened is the new Gym system Super Serious Gal told you about yesterday to change the whole Gym Leader order system. The number of badges you have bases how many Gym Trainers you have to take on while going through the maze to get to the Gym Leader."

"There's a maze?" I asked. Isn't a Gym challenge supposed to be the test in itself?

"Well, usually, yeah." Gold explained as we walked to the end of the hall. "Most Gyms have a simple maze or puzzle to get through with several Gym Trainers to face. Based on the number of Badges you have the minimum number of Trainers you have to face changes. Of course you can fight more, but the others are optional."

"Welcome Challenger!" a man in glasses called out, walking over to Gold.

"This is Clyde," Gold said pointing at the man. "He serves as a guide for the Gym and usually gives hints to Trainer's who see themselves having a hard time."

"Wait, is there one of him in every Gym?" I asked. With all the challenges done throughout all the Gyms every day, there's no way he can be at all the Gyms at once.

"Well, yeah."

"Well, if it isn't Gold," Clyde said walking up to him. "Is it safe to assume one of the DexHolders doesn't need my help for this Gym?"

Gold grinned, "You'd be right about that. Sorry 'bout that Clyde, I know it makes your job seem useless."

"It's okay," Clyde grinned back. "I'm mainly here for the newbies." He then turned to me, "Speaking of which, whose the little guy, a fan?" Little Guy?! Really? I am NOT that short, am I?

"He's my new protégé." Gold said, slapping me on the back. "His name's Quartz. I'm just showing him the ropes. He'll challenge the Gym himself after I'm done."

"Well, hey there!" Clyde said, extending a hand. "Nice to meet ya! If ya got any questions just ask me! I mean, that's my job here!"

I took his hand and gently shook it. "Nice to meet you, too." I took a good look at his smiling face before carefully asking, "Can I ask you anything?"

"Well, anything within reason, ya know what I mean?" he chuckled.

"Are all of you guys named Clyde?" I loudly asked. "I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but I'm just really confused." I remember back when I was studying for my Trainer's License for the first time and I had a similar problem coming to terms with the fact that all the nurses in the Pokémon Centers were named Joy.

"Well, my name's actually Ray," he said calmly. "My middle name is Clyde, however. Ya see Quartz; we Gym guides all have Clyde in our names whether it be our first name or a middle name. I know it's weird, but don't think too deeply into it. We're like the Nurse Joys that you see in all the Pokémon Centers. Trust me, when there's a family reunion during the holidays and such, it's crazy."

"O.K…" I managed to make out, not trying to make it too odd. Thankfully, we were reaching the point of the Gym where the "maze" began. Gold and I stood on a wooden platform that suddenly lifted us up several tens of meters up in the air until it reached a raised platform. On this raised platform there was a path that either led to a Trainer facing 3 Gym Trainer's in a row, or going around and avoiding them all. Both ways led to another platform, which undoubtedly would raise us to an even higher platform. I gotta say, being up here did give me the feeling like I was flying.

Gold looked at the 'maze' before him with a huge smirk on his face. "You gotta hand it to Falkner. Can't be anymore straight forward than that." He was right about that, there was no maze, but rather a straight path to the Gym Leader with a couple of Gym Trainers as your obstacles.

Gold threw 3 Pokéballs into the air, releasing Polibo, Pibu, and Aibo. Immediately, all three Pokémon each went off in different battles as they faced the Gym Trainers as Gold just walked through the middle pathway to the next platform.

"Shouldn't you, well, command them or something?" I asked as he ignored the 3 simultaneous battles going on beside him.

"Nah, my Pokémon know what to do without my saying anything," he replied gesturing to his Pokémon running over to him, already finished with their respective battles. I've got to say, in any case, that's pretty impressive.

We then got on the next platform that raised us to the top floor. This floor was simple with only a battlefield and stands for viewers. At the opposite side of the field, there was the man we saw yesterday on his knees with his eyes closed, like he was meditating or something. Gone was the police outfit and now he wore a sky blue shirt with white buttons with a blue kimono-like undershirt, a white sash, blue shorts, and black armbands with red on the ends.

"So, you finally made it, Gold," he said, opening his visible eye and getting on his feet. Wow, socks with sandals, this guy has terrible fashion sense.

"Here I am," Gold said, now with a much more serious disposition. His smile was still on his face, but he had more a look of determination rather than his usual casual look.

"So, you're his new apprentice," Falkner said turning towards me. "Quartz, was it not?"

"Y-y-yes sir!" I said surprised he'd even talk to me. I'm still a bit nervous 'cause he's a cop when he's not in the gym and I'm still not sure if I'm a walking crime or not.

"It's nice to meet you in person," he said in a very polite voice. "I look forward to our match after my match with Gold."

"Uh, yeah. Same here." I went over to the stands to watch the soon to begin fight.

"Hey kid," a voice behind me said. I jumped out of my seat in surprise. Behind me was a short man with a mustache with a black shirt and khakis with a pink sweatshirt tied around his neck. Behind him was a cameraman. "Oh, sorry to startle you. So, I hear you're Gold's new apprentice?"

"Well, yeah. Um, excuse me, but who are you?" I asked, still a bit confused.

"Oh, the name's Hirō, I'm the director for Goldenrod Radio." Oh yeah, Gold did say he was getting interviewed after his match. "We're here for Gold's match, but you are something I wasn't suspecting. Would you mind doing an interview after your match?"

"Uh, well, the thing is…" I tried to think of an excuse to not have to go through with this. I mean, being on TV would be awesome, but what if I lose the match? Besides that, there's the chance of being recognized to factor in this situation. "I'd rather not. I'm kinda camera shy. " I lied. "Maybe next time, okay?" He nodded and turned back to the field as Gold and Falkner finished their greetings and seemed prepared for battle. Pete hopped on the rail bars to get a better view.

"Gold, I know that the Gym rules state that since you have 4 badges, normally our badges would be 3-4 against your team of six," Falkner said. "However, considering your "reputation" and our previous acquaintanceship, would you mind if we just stick to a 3 on 3, basic match."

"Sounds, good with me, Falkner," Gold replied, smiling in anticipation, Pokéball in hand. "Ready when you are!" A referee stood in the middle of the battlefield, checking both sides before signaling for the battle to begin.

"Pidgeot, let's go!"

"Pibu!"

The bird with colorful plumage going down its back soared overhead as it faced the tiny electrical mouse. "You're starting off with a Pichu," Falkner commented. "I thought this was going to be a serious match."

"It is," Gold replied. "Don't underestimate it just 'cause it's not evolved. I'll even give you the first move, I'll show you what I mean."

"Fine, Pidgeot, Aerial Ace!" Falkner yelled out. The large bird flew directly at Pibu at top speed, while Pibu just stood there. Pibu looked back toward Gold who just gave it a grin with a twinkle in his eye. That being all the orders it needed, Pibu sidestepped the attack as soon it zoomed by. However, the bird did a quick U-turn and hit Pichu immediately after, not losing any speed during the entire process. "Nice dodge Gold, but you forgot that Aerial Ace is a move that never misses its target."

"Oh yeah," Gold said, realizing his mistake. He scratched the back of his head, "I forgot about that, sorry Pibu!"

"No time for that" Falkner continued, "Pidgeot use Heat Wave!" The bird flapped it wings sending a scorching heat down on the electric mouse.

"Pibu, use Substitute to take the damage, then jump as high as you can!" Gold called out in response. Pibu created a replica of itself and used it as a spring to jump high into the air as the replica below faded away as it took damage from Pidgeot's attack. "Now, shoot it down with Thunder!" Pibu generated a bolt of lightning from itself and struck Pidgeot directly. The bird started to fall, taking immense damage from that one hit.

"Pidgeot, regain your composure-" Falkner tried saying before he was interrupted by…

"Dive after it and use Volt Tackle!" Pibu took a swan dive at its now elevated height and surrounded itself with electricity and headed for its target. Pete was especially focused during this moment, as Volt Tackle was both our trump card and kryptonite. Pibu had no trouble using it and the electricity surrounding it was on a whole other level to what Pete was capable at the time.

As Pidgeot was starting to get over the previous attack, Falkner screamed out, "Pidgeot, we've got no time, use Whirlwind to blow Pichu back!" Pidgeot turned it back to the ground and flapped its wing furiously to repel the falling mouse. The two attacks collided with each other and fought for supremacy where one second it looked like Pibu would be blown out of its attack and the next it looked like it would drive through Pidgeot 's winds. The victor came as Pibu used all of its strength to force a hole in Pidgeot's Whirlwind and crashed with Pidgeot at full force. The explosive power of the move caused a smoke cloud to blow through, with Pibu the only one standing after it cleared and Pidgeot down for the count.

"It seems that Pidgeot's been bested," Falkner said, returning his bird to its Pokéball. He thanked his bird before returned to Gold, "Using the acceleration of falling to add to Volt Tackle's power was a brilliant strategy, I'm impressed."

"Told ya not to underestimate us," Gold replied before turning to his partner, "Great work Pibu!" The mouse gave him a thumbs up with a smile. Gold turned to me and grinned. I smiled back as he turned back to the battle.

'So this is a Gym Battle,' I thought to myself. It was incredibly fast paced with both Trainers always on edge and completely focused, always trying to one-up the other or take the advantage. It was way more intense than any normal trainer battle I've seen on TV where both sides kept it simple and exchanged moves turn by turn. Of course, the fact that Gold and Falkner were both good acquaintances made the match all the more thrilling. Hopefully my Gym Battle will be a bit calmer, 'cause I don't think I'm ready for quick back and forth with no stops.

"Now, here's my second Pokémon, Noctowl!' Falkner threw out another Pokéball, summoning a brownish owl, with an eyebrow like crest on its head. As the challenger, Gold was allowed to change Pokémon upon the Gym Leader bringing out new ones, but he held up his hands saying he was ok. Falkner once again, was the first to strike. "Noctowl, Psybeam!" Rainbow colors rays shot out of Noctowl's eyes.

"Pibu, dodge!" Gold called out. Pibu sidestepped the Psychic rays before facing the owl once more. "Now use Volt Switch!" Pibu created a ball of electricity and threw it at the owl. Upon contact, Noctowl flew out, a bit damaged and Pibu retreated into Gold's Pokéball. "Alright Pibu, you catch a break for a second. " He put Pibu away and took out another Pokéball. "Polibo, you're up!" The green alarm clock that woke me up this morning popped out, bouncing on its toes, readying itself for the battle.

"Switching out now, why do that when you could've done that when Noctowl came out?" Falkner inquired from his side of the field.

"Oh, I got my reasons," Gold replied before winking over in my direction. Is he going to teach Pete and I that move? Not only was it practical for switching, but it was pretty powerful, too! Gold turned back to the battle and was the first one to get things happening again. "Polibo, Hydro Pump!" The frog, or is it a toad, blasted a high-pressure torrent or water at the owl flying about.

"Noctowl, dodge the Hydro Pump," Falkner commanded, "Then, use Tailwind!" Noctowl avoiding the surge of water before blowing a turbulent whirlwind, much like Pidgeot's previous attack but different somehow.

"Fine, we'll just get up close and personable, " Gold gritted his teeth. "Polibo, use Double Slap!" Polibo's hand glowed and it jumped high into the air before trying to hit Noctowl. Despite Polibo's incredible jumping prowess, Noctowl was able to dodge each swipe just in the nick of time. In fact, it seems that every time Polibo was just about to hit it, a gust of wind helped blow Noctowl out of harm's way. "What's going on?"

"You see," Falkner explained, "Tailwind is a move that allows my Pokémon to become incredibly fast for a while by blowing a gust of wind that aids them in flying faster than their opponent. While it has a limit, the boost in speed helps even the slowest of birds to fly with the speed of a Talonflame." Gold grit his teeth, forced into a tough situation while Falkner took advantage of his Tailwind by getting ahead. "Noctowl, Psychic!" The owl Pokémon's eyes glowed as Polibo was surrounded by psychic energy before being flung into a wall. However, Falkner's onslaught did not end there. Followed by an Air Slash and later a Zen Headbutt, Noctowl was landing hit after hit on Polibo and despite Gold's calls for it to dodge, the Tailwind helped give Noctowl the boost it needed to adjust its move to hit its opponent despite Polibo's attempts to dodge.

However, Gold's determination didn't seem to waver at all. "Polibo, Belly Drum!" The frog beat on its stomach as its offensive capabilities rose. "For half of Polibo's health, Polibo's attack power reached its maximum potential," Gold explained.

"Hmmm, " Falkner seemed unimpressed, "What use is that if you can't hit me! Noctowl, Air Slash!" Although I hate to agree, Falkner's right. Even if Polibo can manage to one-shot Falkner's Noctowl, with Tailwind up, it doesn't have the speed to pull it off.

As Polibo seemed to struggle taking that last move as the wind on the field seemed to start to let up. Gold let out a huge grin, "Alright, here comes the counterattack: Polibo, Double Team!" The frog sent out dozens of illusionary clones and surrounded Noctowl. "Now, finish this off with Ice Punch!" All the Politoed's arms glowed a light blue before they jumped into the air and punched at the lone Noctowl. Noctowl flew its way through must of the clones before coming into direct contact with the fist of the real Polibo. Noctowl was hurled directly toward the ground with ice forming on its wings. However, having its wings frozen didn't make a difference as it was knocked out. Gold-2, Falkner-0.

"So you waited for Tailwind to run out," Falkner deduced as he returned his owl, "then took your chance to strike."

"In a nutshell, yeah"

"A most risky strategy," Falkner smiled, "but also one most suited to you, Gold. This match is getting really interesting!"

"Yeah, let's see your last Pokémon!" Gold's match was finally reaching its final stage. Both the Goldenrod Radio and I were on the edge of our seats.

"Gold," Falkner said, taking out his third Pokéball, "My ace Pokémon should be a trip down memory lane for us both. Skarmory, take to the skies!" He sent out his Skarmory, a bird that was covered in metal feathers. A steel bird, how does it keep flying?

"Wow, Skarmory," Gold said as Falkner nodded slowly.

"Yes, this is the Skar-"

"My cousin's got one just like it" Gold said, causing Falkner to look at him wide-eyed.

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, my cousin. She caught a Skarmory herself a while back." Gold said. "Pretty powerful, too."

"That's all you have to say?" Falkner said, looking at Gold in disbelief.

"Pretty much, why?"

"This is the Skarmory YOU helped me catch all those years ago!" Falkner yelled at him.

"I did?" Gold looked off, deep in thought, probably trying to remember this occasion. His eyes grew wide in realization, "OH YEAH! I helped back all the way when I started as a Pokémon Trainer! It was back before you were even Gym Leader! Sorry 'bout that, must of slipped my mind."

Falkner sweatdropped, his usual calm demeanor gone, with strands of his blue hair sticking up, completely surprised of Gold's oblivious nature. Even his Skarmory looked like it was disappointed.

"Well, in that case," Gold smiled, continuing the battle from where they left off, "I think we go back to that same scenario. Polibo, come back!" He returned his Politoed and pulled out a different Pokéball. "How about we recreate that scene, just this time with Skarmory on your side? Exbo, come on out and say hi to an old friend!" He sent out a badger-like Pokémon that stood on its hind legs that let out a crest of flames on the back of its neck. "Here's Exbo, my Typhlosion, now evolved from the Cyndaquil that fought that Skarmory in the past."

Falkner closed his eyes in the nostalgia this moment was bringing him. His smile returned as he opened his eyes. "This is better, a true-"

"No Exbo, it's not Ami's Skarmory, it's Falkner's. Remember when we fought it way back when you were a Cyndaquil?" A confused Exbo was looking at Gold who was trying to explain who their opponent was. Everyone, including myself, came together in a simultaneous sweatdrop. I don't even really know the story, but from what I gathered, Gold helped Falkner catch his Skarmory way back and neither him nor his Typhlosion could remember it without someone walking them through the story. Oh well, like Trainer, like Pokémon I guess.

After about 3 minutes of explaining, Exbo's back exploded into flames, now recognizing whom its foe was. "That's right, _Falkner's_ Skarmory!" Gold exclaimed, now Trainer and Pokémon on the right page.

"It's about time," the downcast Gym Leader said. Falkner shook off his obvious disappointment and was once again serious as the final bout of their match began. "Go, Skarmory!"

"You too, Exbo!" Gold started the final round, "Flamethrower!" Exbo shot a stream of flames from its back over at the Skarmory. The metal bird gracefully dodged the flames and slowly closed in on the fire badger.

"Alright Skarmory, start this off with Steel Wing!" The steel birds wings glowed in their metallic color and it struck Exbo before flying back up. The blue and yellow badger quickly got back up on its hind legs, barely phased from the previous attack.

"One more time, Flamethrower!" Gold's plan seemed to be use Flamethrower 'til we win. Unfortunately, as each wave of flames flew from Exbo's back into the air, Skarmory was given enough time to dodge each and every one.

"All right Skarmory, use Rock Slide!" Skarmory hurled a bunch of large boulders over at Exbo who tried to dodge them before eventually getting hit by a few. Where did Skarmory get the boulders? Heck if I know. I blinked and the next second and there were rocks all around it being thrown at Typhlosion. I'm guessing it made them.

"Flamethrower!" Exbo made a move from the rubble that seemed to signal a Flamethrower, but at the last second stopped mid-move. Gold was confused and called out to his partner, "Exbo, what's wrong?"

"Rock Slide has the chance to cause the opponent to flinch," Falkner explained from across the field. "Skarmory, don't give it time to regain its composure, Steel Wing!" Once again the bird's wings glowed and it flew straight into Typhlosion.

"Exbo, grab on!" Gold realized his Typhlosion was ready to move again right as the collision between the two happened. Skarmory tried to fly back up but was having a hard time getting any altitude lugging around its opponent.

"Skarmory, shake it off!" The steel bird tried every maneuver it knew from sharp turns to flying in circles in an effort to shake off the fiery badger whom in turn gripped it harder than ever.

Gold smiled and called out, "All right Exbo, Thunderpunch!" Exbo's paw glowed yellow before being enveloped in electricity, which it then used to sock Skarmory right in the face. As the bird fell down, Exbo hopped off and landed back on its side of the field as its opponent crashed into the ground. "And that should be that," Gold said as he waited for Skarmory to be on the ground unconscious as the smoke cleared up. However, the bird flew straight up into the air and after spreading its wings wide, seemed okay.

"What the hell?" Gold said as he watched the bird fly around, as if it took no damage. "That should've been a knockout blow, what gives?"

"You underestimate my Skarmory, "Falkner said slowly. "We pride ourselves in our defensive capabilities and taking moves that we are normally weak to."

"Well yeah, you're a Gym Leader, you probably should have that," Gold acknowledged. "However, Exbo and I pride ourselves in our power and I know that was a direct hit from point blank range!"

"True," Falkner replied, "so I took the necessary precautions." Gold gave him a confused look as he continued, "Do you know why I chose to use Steel Wing, even though I know it has little to no effect on a fire type like Typhlosion?"

"I don't know," Gold answered. "I always thought people did that to show off their move pools. I just use whatever works. The only reason I used Thunderpunch instead of Flamethrower was because of our close range."

"Well, instead of just showing off, we had an ulterior motive," Falkner explained. "Steel Wing has the added effect of sometimes increasing my Skarmory defense against direct hits after successfully hitting an opponent's Pokémon."

"Huh, how about that?" Gold said, impressed. "Not bad, Falkner, not bad."

"I'm not the Gym Leader for nothing." No he's not. Not only did Falkner plan that out, but every one of his Pokémon had moves that helped diversify the types of foes he could encounter. Heat Wave on Pidgeot, Psychic on Noctowl, and finally Rock Slide with his Skarmory. His variety of moves made his team of birds a lot more threatening then it would seem. "Skarmory, let's up the pressure, Brave Bird!" Skarmory flew at such a high speed, it started to cloak itself in an energy akin to that of a Volt Tackle.

"Exbo, intercept with Flamethrower!" The two collided with Skarmory's incredible speed going straight through the Flamethrower instead of dodging it on the way down. The sheer force of Skarmory striking Exbo caused the badger to hit the wall next to the bleachers where we were sitting. "Exbo, you okay?" The badger answered by slowly getting up and letting its back ignite as it gave a roar to proceed.

"Skarmory, one last time, Brave Bird!" Falkner called out, determined to finally take out Gold's ace Pokémon.

Gold stayed quiet; waiting for Skarmory to line up perfectly with Exbo before giving his response, "Let's end this, Blast Burn!" As the bird flew directly at Exbo, an enormous inferno of flames erupted from its neck, far greater than that of Flamethrower. The sheer force made Flamethrower seem like a lighter compared to this bonfire of a move. The heat was so great, everyone in the stands, including myself, had to shield out eyes from the intensity. When the smoke cleared and I reopened my eyes, Skarmory was on the ground, unable to battle. With a score of 3-0, Gold won the match.

"All right, Exbo! We did it!" Gold ran over to his Pokémon on the field and hugged it in joy. He looked over in my direction and gave me a thumbs up. I stood up and returned the gesture. For the first Gym Match I ever saw, it truly set the bar pretty high for my turn next. Behind me, Hirō and his camera crew started rolling their camera's as the match finally finished and their reason for being here was about to start.

Falkner sighed in defeat and returned his defeated metallic bird to it Pokéball. He thanked it for its efforts before meeting Gold on the other side of the field. "A wonderful match, Gold. I thoroughly enjoyed it." He handed out his hand to Gold.

"Hey, same here," Gold took the hand and shook it. "We should do this again sometime."

Falkner smiled and walked over to his side of the field where he picked up a metallic pin which he then brought over and handed to Gold, "Here, as proof of your victory, I present you with the Zephyr Badge." Gold took it, thanked him and flashed the shiny badge over in my direction. The badge was a shiny silver and looked like a pair of wings, fitting of a flying type Gym.

I walked over to Gold with Pete, now that the match was over to congratulate him. "It was an amazing match, Gold-san. Congrats."

"Thanks, Quartz," he smiled. "Did you remember to take notes, remember you're next!" Damn it, I thought he would have forgotten in the spur of the moment.

Falkner joined in, saying, "I look forward to facing you later today. I want to see what kind of student Gold has trained."

I tried to wave some of it off, "I only became his student yesterday. We've barely done any training." I really don't want him to go any harder on me because I'm Gold's apprentice.

"In any case," Falkner finished, "I'll be here waiting." He then walked over to his side of the field was, where there was a machine where he could heal up his Pokémon quickly in case of another battle.

With that, the radio director and his crew came over for their interview with Gold. "Gold, congratulations on your win! How's it feel to get your fifth badge?"

Gold scratched the back of his head embarrassed, "Pretty good. Hey, can you guys give me a sec?" He turned to me, "Hey Quartz, can you wait outside for a bit? This should only take about 5-10 minutes."

"Sure, no problem," I told him as I took the platforms back down the Gym. I spoke to Clyde a bit about the match at the bottom floor before finally exiting the Gym. I found a nearby vending machine and bought myself a Soda Pop that I slowly drank as I replayed the match in my head.

Both Gold and Falkner both replied almost immediately to each other's attacks, always planning their next move. Of course, they sometimes stopped in the middle to explain certain effects from their moves or complement the other on a strategy to give the match a bit of breathing room, but besides that it was intense. I do remember that their Gym Battle wasn't the basic traditional style because of the terms they agreed on previously, but that was only a small difference. How different would a battle against me, a new guy who just started, be compared to the battle I just witnessed? Could I take the intensity and manage to keep up without hesitating mid-match? All this thinking about what-ifs and what could happen was starting to give me a headache.

Then, Pete gave me a tiny shock from down where he stood. He gave me a reassuring smile and a fighting pose, showing he was ready for anything. The little guy's smile really helped out. If he can look to the future with a positive outlook, why can't I? We may be a team, but in the end he's the one doing the actual battling, not me, so if he's okay, so should I.

As I shake off the rest of my worries, the Goldenrod Radio people walk out of the Gym, done with their interview and walk off towards a van. They pack up and drive off to Goldenrod, I'm guessing. As they drive off, Gold walks out of the Gym, more exhausted and annoyed than even during the Gym Match.

"Gold-san, how was the interview?" I asked. He sighed deeply and gave me a 'do you really want to know' look. That only made me more intrigued, so he sighed before telling me what happened.

"Well, it kinda went like this…

 **Gold's POV**

 _"All right, guys, ask away!" I turned to the guys and prepared myself for another one of these interviews. Just answer the questions and you make some extra cash, like you're a guest on a talk show or something._

 _"So Gold, this is your fifth badge, past halfway to that grand total of 8, how does it feel?"_

 _"Great, I'm headed for the title of League Champion this year, so skipping all the preliminaries would be a great start!"_

 _"League Champion, eh? What makes you think you'll do better than last year?" Here we go…_

 _"Well, I, uh, think the team and I have, uh, trained a lot since then and are ready for any surprises we may face." Yeah, that's pretty good._

 _"Now Gold, as an aspiring League Champ, are you trying to prove you've finally matured as a Trainer?"_

 _"Uh, come again?" What's he trying to say?_

 _"Well, you've managed to cause quite a bit of havoc every time you seem to try to, um let's see if I can find the right words, uh: go out and explore."_

 _"I'm not really sure I follow, can I get an example?"_

 _"Well, there was the time you went to the newly opened Pokéathlon, while you did clear all the events, you also caused untold amounts of damage when a Dragonite attacked the stadium with no warning whatsoever?"_

 _"Well in my defense, that wasn't my-"_

 _"Or that time shortly after, where the Gym of Ecruteak was completely destroyed by Arceus when you just happened to be there?"_

 _"Oh come on, I had no contr-"_

 _"How about any of those times swarms of Pokémon ran into cities when your training in the nearby Routes got a bit too extreme?"_

 _"Hey! I made sure to fix everything afterward!" By the name of Mew, these guys are harsh._

 _"In any case, we just want to know if battling more respected members of society like the Gym Leaders is helping fix your destructive tendencies?"_

 _"Come on already!" These guys were really getting on my nerves. "I've saved the entire region of Johto several times, doesn't that count for anything?"_

 _"Well, based on our accounts, your fellow DexHolders, Silver and Crystal, were much more instrumental in saving Johto during these incidents."_

 _"What?" Who the hell is giving them these sources? "Sure Super Serious Gal and Silver were nice help, but yours truly here is the true hero!" I puffed out my chest and smiled. Wait, isn't Crystal going to see this later? I turned to the camera, "Hey Crys, love ya babe!" Nailed it._

 _"So what you're saying is, you're tuning down your troublemaking?"_

 _"Well…"_

 **Zircon/Quartz POV**

"And all they did was ask me if I'm cleaning up my act or something," Gold said, clearly offended. "I mean you destroy 2 or 3 buildings like 4 or 5 times when trying to do something for the region, and you're suddenly some destructive monster." A single sweatdrop when down my face. When he's around, things do get a bit crazy. Personal experience right here. "Besides, half those times I was just trying to stop Team Rocket or something. I couldn't do anything about it. I am an upstanding member of society! If anything, I'm just giving them more interesting stuff to cover, so if anything, they should be thanking me."

"Well, at least you got some money out of it right?" I asked, trying to lift his mood.

"I guess," he muttered, "since Gym battles don't give you any prize money and normal Trainers won't face me, it's some of the only times I get any money…"

"Wait a second," I interrupted. "You don't get any prize money from Gym Battles? Since when?" I was hoping to make some extra cash from beating the Gym Trainers so I could stock up on items before taking on Falkner or something like that.

"Yeah, it's part of the whole change in the structure of the Gyms," Gold explained. "Since there's no order in which you face Gym's, some Gym Leaders have to go easy on a much larger amount of people who come in prepared with a type advantage because they either have a couple of badges or none at all." "Due to this, several Gym Leaders started losing lots of matches early on and were running low on cash since their only real income is their salary they get from the Pokémon Association. Plus, part of that salary is dedicated to their Gym Trainers. Therefore, they had to go full throttle on every match with close to no leeway on giving victories to the challengers. Before, a Gym Leader could choose to throw a match here or there because a challenger just nearly lost or tied the match, but showed they were deserving of the badge anyway, but then they couldn't afford that, literally. Thus, all matches done inside Gyms were stated to be done without prize money to the victor, be it the challenger or the Gym Leader." Wow, that's a lot of changes to the system due to making Gyms a little more accessible to all Trainers. "In either case," Gold continued, "Gym Leaders sometimes make too little as it is. Some of them have extra jobs, like Falkner being a police officer part-time."

"Okay, so that's why you do these interviews?" I asked. "Is it more of a financial thing?"

"Well, kinda," he answered. "Being a Trainer isn't the most high-paying job out there. Get good like me and people avoid battles with you. If you're bad, you'll be broke within days. Be part of the Gym system or something and you're stuck with a monthly salary." Wow, looks like I better figure out how to stay above too weak, and below too strong, and fast.

"In other news, " Gold began, "You still got a Gym Battle to do. It's almost noon, so I'll give you a quick briefing with some pointers, and you can get ready and then it's your turn!"

"W-w-wait, Gold-san. I just started yesterday, am I really ready for a Gym Battle?" I asked. Yeah, I know, Pete helped lift my spirits back up, but the facts were facts, and besides, I only had Pete on my side, with no backup.

"Of course," Gold said with a smile. "You've proven to me already that you and Pichu are more than your average beginning duo and you got a type advantage already. That's pretty much all you need for the Gym Trainers, and for Falkner, you'll just need a bit of a strategy and creativity."

"If you say so, " I decided, "I guess I got no choice, right?"

"That's the spirit!" he said. He stood up straight and said, "Let's talk strategy over some lunch, whatddya say?" He then grabbed me by the back of my shirt and dragged me over to the nearest restaurant.

After getting our food and sitting down, Gold finally spoke up, "All right, so what did you learn from our earlier battle?" It went pretty quick, and the biggest thing I learned was how truly powerful Gold was.

"I guess I learned how good Gym Leaders are?" I guessed.

"Well yeah, that's a start, at least," Gold said. "The main thing you're gonna need remember when you go up there is that you got to think on your feet and always react to what's going on in real time. Gym Leaders aren't going to wait for you to regain your composure." I was taken aback by the change in tone of voice. Usually, Gold sounds like a laid-back joker who's always about having a good time, but when the time comes, he's able to be rather serious. "I know I've said having the advantage should be enough, but it wouldn't hurt to go in there without some creative strategies."

"So what should I do?"

"Well, for starters, do you have any Potions or healing items?" he asked.

"No, I just started training, remember?" I haven't really gotten in any serious battles, so potions haven't been my biggest priority. Besides, all the Potions I did have were used up in yesterday's Pidgey fiasco.

"Well, buy a couple," he said. "There's no rule against using a Potion during a Gym battle, and since Pete's your only partner, you got to make sure he's in top shape at all times."

"Okay," I replied. I guess that makes sense. "What else?"

"Falkner's probably going to take you on with two Pokémon," he said. He looked up before continuing, "Whatever you do, make sure you take out the first one quickly."

"Why's that?" Other than obviously conserving energy, of course.

"Because you're going to need to use everything to take out Skarmory."

"Wait, what?!" He's going to be using that thing against me? "I thought that was his strongest Pokémon! Why would he use it against a newbie like me?"

"It is his strongest Pokémon," he stated plainly. "Gym Leaders always use their strongest Pokémon in battles."

"Then how does anyone get their first badge?" I asked. If all Gym Leaders use their ace in the hole no matter whom they're facing, how can a new trainer be expected to win?

"He doesn't use Skarmory's full potential in the battle," he explained. "He and Skarmory battle to around the strength that's to be expected of whatever number Gym Leader the challenger is facing. The main reason Gym Leaders use their strongest is to avoid just giving away badges. They're obviously trying to win the battle as well!" Well, I guess that makes sense. That must be the reason why there isn't dozens of people with 8 badges every Pokémon League. Beating 8 Gym Leaders must truly be quite the challenge.

"Hey Gold-san? What about that move you used with Pichu during the match?" That move was pretty powerful and even had the bonus of allowing you to switch mid-match.

"Oh, you mean Volt Switch?"

"Yeah, that's it! Could you help teach Pete and I that move? It'd be perfect!"

"Why?" he asked confused. "You have no other Pokémon to switch into. Volt Switch is really a weaker move reserved for when you're switching while attacking at the same time."

"Its got more power than Thundershock, which is the only real reliable move we have now."

"Thundershock is good enough, " he said, "I'll teach you it after you get your second Pokémon. Before then, it's not really all that useful." Great, I got a teacher that won't teach me.

"Don't worry," he reassured me. "You should be fine. Besides, it won't be your first battle, you still have a couple of Gym Trainers to go through before hand so you can get yourself warmed up." Yeah, because a couple of extra battles is exactly what I need to be at full energy when I'm face to face with Falkner. Although, I have to admit he does make a good point. Despite my sarcasm, I have yet to be in a legit Pokémon battle other than the Trainer's Equivalency Exam's battle portion. Having a couple battles beforehand might be what I need to truly get my footing. Besides, as Gym Trainers, they'll be using Flying types as well, so it'll be like practice for when it's time to take on Falkner.

With stronger determination, I nodded and looked up, "Alright, I think I got this." I looked over to Pete who finished eating and gave me a thumbs up. I returned the gesture before returning to Gold.

He broke out a huge grin, "That's the way! Let's finish up here and get on our way! We can't keep Falkner waiting forever, can we?" So we finished our food and made a stop at a local PokéMart on the way there. I got about 5 Potions since I figured it was a good amount and I wasn't exactly swimming in cash either at the moment. Afterwards, we made sure all preparations were set and we headed over to the Violet City Gym for the second time today, only this time I was the challenger and Gold the observer.

Upon entering, Clyde was right there to greet us. "Well if it isn't Gold and, uh…"

"Quartz."

"Right, Quartz!" he quickly fixed himself. "So, is it the student's turn to take on the Gym?"

"That's the idea," I told him.

"Well, Gold may have already given you a clue, " he started. "But I get paid to give tips to starting Trainers, so just between you and me, Flying types aren't so keen on Electric type attacks."

I gave him a small smile. "Thanks," I muttered. 'Not so keen on electric types, huh. You don't say.' In any case, I gave him a weak wave as I moved onto the platform that would raise me up to the Gym Trainers. It raised us up to a platform that I noticed was lower than the one it raised us up to when Gold came, and I soon saw the reason. As Gold said, both the maze and Gym Trainers that Trainers face when entering a Gym are dependent on the number of badges they have. My maze was a lot easier. I had two choices, take on two Gym Trainers, or go straight to Falkner. Now the easy choice would be to go straight to Falkner, but Arceus knows I need the battle experience. I walked up to my first opponent, one of two Bird Keepers.

"Hey, hey, hey," he called out. "Looks like we got a newbie, here. The name's Bird Keeper Abe, how 'bout you?"

"I-I-I-I'm Quartz," I stuttered. Other than the practice battle I had with Gold, this marks my first real match, Trainer VS. Trainer, and if it wasn't obvious enough, Gym Trainers get their jobs since they're already considered a cut above the rest, so I'm not starting on the best foot.

"So, who's your frien-" he started, looking behind me, where Gold was standing looking at his PokéGear, before looking up and giving him a small wave. "Is that Gold? _The_ Gold of New Bark Town?" Gold gave him a grin before Abe turned to the other Bird Keeper, "Hey Rod! Check it out! This newbie's got Gold Kaito of the DexHolders with him!"

The other Bird Keeper, Rod, looked over, and upon noticing, called out, "Hey, what gives?"

Gold raised an eyebrow at him, "What, Falkner didn't tell you guys? Quartz here is my protégé. I'm training him from the ground up, and lucky you get to be his first opponent." He smiled at me, and pushed me to go a bit forward.

"First opponent, huh? You're pretty brave kid, going' straight to a Gym as soon as you start," Abe said. "Quartz, right? I like you kid, you've got guts. Let me show you true Pokémon battle, Spearow, go!"

I looked down at my partner, cheeks sparking at the ready. "You ready, pal? Let's go!" Pete ran up across from the Spearow and just like that, my first battle was underway.

 **January 22nd-Devon Corporation-Rustboro City-Hoenn-2:55 P.M.**

 **Normal POV**

"Hey Idaisa!"

Zircon's father, Shinji Idaisa, jumped at hearing his name and almost dropped some of his papers. "Yeah?"

"Good work today," his boss responded. "We're thinking about sending one of our interns to work with you when you head back to Johto next week, you okay helping him out?"

"Sounds okay to me," he responded.

"Great, see you tomorrow," his boss finished before heading back to his office.

Shinji sighed as he left the office.

Shinji walked over to his hotel on the downtown area of Rustboro and fell on the bed as he landed. This constant travel between Johto and Hoenn was really starting to take its toll on him.

'Hmm, maybe I can check on Zircon,' he thought. He picked up the room's phone and called the house phone. After a couple of rings, he was surprised to see no answer. 'How about his PokéGear?' No answer. Suspicious. After contemplating it for a couple of minutes, he then went on his laptop and accessed a secret set of cameras he'd set up in the house in case of burglaries. He saw Zircon packing his bag and leaving the house, and not just for the day.

He smiled at looked up at the room's ceiling. 'So, you've finally done it, eh?' He opened the window and threw a Pokéball, summoning his bird Pokémon, Swellow. He wrote a small note and tied it to his Swellow's leg. "All right Tenshi, make sure Zircon gets this note. It's a long trip back to Johto, so you're free to stay at the house 'til I get back next week." His bird nodded and soared off into the horizon. As Swellow disappeared off into the sky, Shinji sat back on the bed as he looked out into the sky. 'Good luck son, I'm giving you one week."

 **A/N: That's Chapter 3 everyone! Before anything else, I want to apologize for this chapter coming out so late, last time I posted, summer was headed towards the end and the school year was coming. It's now the spring semester of my first year at a college away from home, so I kind of spent the first semester getting into the swing of things. Before I transferred here, I've been living at home, so I guess I had more time to write. Anyway, this change coupled with a couple months of writer's block, leads to said hiatus. Truth is, this chapter was intended to end after Quartz's Gym Battle with Falkner, but upon writing this section at the end, I felt this would be more appropriate. I'm starting upon the next chapter as soon as this one goes up.**

 **Another reason this has been taking awhile is that when I probably should be working out this, I'm thinking about the story later on. I think I got the most of it mapped out in my mind now, so I think we're good to go. I should also probably note that I won't follow everything day by day in this story. There will be time skips, be it days, weeks, or even a couple months since, after all, the Pokémon League that this story is currently leading up to is chronologically a year and a half away and no one wants to follow every day over the course of a year and a half, especially when there's bound to be boring old basic training days within that timeframe.**

 **I really hope I don't get too confusing in trying to explain the Gym system I'm making here. Since Zircon (I'll use his real name here and Quartz during the actual chapter) is more or less going to be taking on Gym's around the same time as Gold, I wanted to make sure the matches are differed based on their obvious difference in skill. If there's anything else you want cleared up, just PM or something and I'll do want I can to help clarify and possibly clear it up better in the future.**

 **Lastly, I realize some people might feel that Gold is a bit OOC at times in this story. The main reason for this is that this is another 5 whole years since we've last seen him in the HGSS chapter and the man is now 21 years old as of this time in the story. I'm trying to imagine him a bit more mature than before. Of course, he'll be the same Gold we all know and love, but some of his more outrageous mannerisms will be toned down. Besides, he's dating Crystal in this story, so she's definitely going to keep him in line. On the topic of any other possible ships, if it isn't made canon when I introduce said characters, I probably will leave it at that. Even Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald are all already 19 by now, so I would assume any ships would have been resolved by then.**

 **Next chapter, prepare for Quartz's VS. Falkner, his first capture, two helpers, and the first time the two plots of the story crossover each other.**

 **Thanks For Reading and Reviewing,**

 **MateiFire**


	4. Keep At It

**Hey there, everyone. Welcome to Chapter 4 of** _ **Defiance**_ **. Like always, any real messages I want to share will be saved for the end, but as always, thanks for reading and reviewing!**

 **DISCLAIMER:** **I don't own Pokémon, be it games, anime, or manga.**

 **Chapter 4: Keep At It**

 **January 22nd-Violet City Gym, Johto-2:55 PM**

 **Zircon/Quartz's POV**

I made the first move, "Pete, use Thundershock!"

"Spearow, dodge it!"

"Pete change it from 12 o'clock to 2!" The Thundershock's direction made arc and followed after the Spearow until it hit it dead on. What we lacked in power, we made up for in accuracy. Spearow hit the floor with swirls in its eyes. That's a win for us. Wow, the first Pokémon we've taken down, already finished. 'That was much easier than I expected,' I thought to myself.

Bird Keeper Abe returned his Spearow and pulled out another Pokéball. "Not bad kid, but we're not down yet, Spearow!" Another Spearow, huh. Well in that case, keep on going.

"Pete, one more Thundershock!" Pete charged up and shocked the second Spearow with the outcome being the same as that of the first. Well, type advantages really do matter a lot.

"Well, I'll be," Bird Keeper Abe said as he returned his second Spearow. "Well, you're pretty good for a newbie." He turned to his friend, "Hey Rod, don't underestimate this kid here! He knows what he's doing!"

"Is that so?" Rod replied as Pete and I walked over to the battlefield before him. "Well then, I guess I'll have to be the true test to see if he's ready for Falkner." He grabbed a Pokéball and threw it high into the air, "Pidgey, let's rock!"

Spearow's and Pidgey's. Hmm, where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, I was attacked by at least a hundred of them yesterday! "Pete, let's go!" Pete ran out quickly and was charging a Thundershock without any need of orders. Seems like we both got the rhythm of how things are going. "Thundershock!" Pete started sending shocks in all different directions.

"Pidgey, dodge them all with Double Team!" Pidgey sent out several images of itself as it navigated past the varied directions of Pete's Thundershock. As several of the images were hit, they fizzled out slowly leading to one leftover Pidgey managing to make it out. "Now, use Mud-Slap," Bird Keeper Rod shouted, seeing their chance. Pidgey used its wings to gust up some mud, which was soon hit right back at us.

'Mud-Slap is super-effective on us', I thought. 'We'll have to finish this, and fast.' Time to take out the big guns. "Pete, let's end this! Volt Tackle!" Pete began the charge as he dashed off at full speed. The cloak of electricity began, fading in and out of effectiveness. Come on, if there's a time for it to work, it's now! Pete ran straight into Pidgey, although I was unsure if Volt Tackle managed to be successful in its execution. From the smoke of the collision, Pete was panting as it stood up, while the Pidgey on the floor was out.

"Ah, come on," Rod exclaimed, seeing his only Pokémon Pidgey fainted and losing the match. He pulled out a Pokéball and returned his Pidgey as I went over to Pete to congratulate him and heal him with one of the Potions I bought earlier. "Well kid, looks like you got the skills to give you the right to take on Falkner. He's one tough Gym Leader, so I wish you luck."

I thanked both Abe and Rod for the words of encouragement and headed to the platform that would raise us to Falkner. Gold gave me a thumbs up and smiled before heading after me. I felt a surge of positivity right now. Both those matches were finished in a matter of minutes. I remember Gold urging me on due to my type advantage, but I didn't think it would help me out this much. As we got on the platform, I tried to calm my nerves as the true battle was about to begin, but this feeling of anxiousness wouldn't leave.

Upon reaching the top level, Falkner was once again on his knees, eyes closed, meditating on his side of the field. As I walked on to the field, he opened them as he gradually stood up and walked to his end of the field. "Quartz, I've been awaiting your challenge. I hope the battle we have will prove your title as Gold's apprentice." He took out two Pokéballs from the counter near him.

'So, I'm having a two against one battle, eh? I better be careful.' I looked over to Gold, who gave me a simple smile as he headed over to the spectator bleachers. Gone was the camera crew from Goldenrod Radio, as they got their story and had headed back about an hour ago. I saw Gold's expression quickly change as he sat down to one of seriousness and complete focus. It was different from the one when he was battling however. That time, he was completely focused and ready to react in a heartbeat. This time, as he sat, he seemed like he was ready to analyze everything as he observed the coming battle. "I'm ready when you are," I told Falkner, taking my place at my side of the battlefield.

Falkner looked down over at Pete and smiled before saying, "A Pichu, I see. Are we having a like-teacher, like-student moment here, with you starting off with a Pichu?"

"Well sorta," I admitted. "However, Pete here is the only Pokémon I have, so he's my only partner for this battle." Pete ran up, front and center, ready for battle.

"Oh, only Pichu?" Falkner asked curious. "Are you sure you'll be able to manage like that?"

I looked down at my electric rodent, whose cheeks were already sparking at the ready, "I believe in Pete. We'll take on whatever you've got together!"

Falkner smiled as he began to wind up the throw of his first Pokéball, "Allow me to show you that observing and being part of a Gym Battle are two different things! Pidgeotto, take to the skies!" He threw the ball, and out came his Pidgeotto, the evolved form of Pidgey. Its larger body and graceful flying was proving it would be a much bigger challenge than the Pidgey we faced below. "I'll give you the first move," Falkner finished, giving the signal for the match to begin to the referee on the side of the battlefield.

'Alright,' I thought, 'Let's get right on the offense.' "Pete, let's go, Thundershock, dead ahead!" Pete focused its electrical shock right in front of it. Spreading the shock won't help here; we'll need to hit it with full force if we want to take it down.

"Pidgeotto, fly up and dodge it!" Falkner called. His Pidgeotto flew way up high; avoiding the surge of electricity Pete was firing his way. In these circumstances, I would usually tell Pete to aim his Thundershock in its direction, however I don't think our range can reach that high. I guess I'll have to wait for him to come to me. "Pidgeotto, dive down and use Tackle!" Perfect. The bird dove down at a great speed and headed straight for Pete.

"Pete, dodge and jump on its back!" Pete dodged the Tackle and jumped on Pidgeotto's back. The bird tried to shake off the mouse but Pete held on tightly. "Use Thundershock, full force!" Hanging on, Pete was able to hit Pidgeotto with Thundershock from point-blank range, definitely causing some major damage.

"Pidgeotto, take evasive maneuvers, do whatever you can to shake it off!" Falkner yelled from the other side of the Gym.

Well, if you want to try that, then, "Pete, hang on no matter what techniques they use!" Hah, I dare you to try and shake us off. Before I made that necklace for Pete, the Everstone around his neck never left his hand no matter what came at him. When Pete intends to not let go, he'll never loosen his grip, despite anything trying to make do otherwise.

Seeing how futile it was to shake us off, Falkner decided it was time for a change in plans. "Pidgeotto, use Twister around yourself!" Pidgeotto starting creating the tornado, however it was forming it around itself, making itself the center of the tempest. However, unlike a normal Gust attack, Twister had a lot more debris, causing Pete to actually take damage, despite being in the storm. However, if Pete is taking damage from this storm, so is Pidgeotto.

"Pete, Thundershock him one more time!" With the damage we got before, coupled with Twister being a double-edged sword for Pidgeotto, I think we might be able to take it out with this next hit. Pete charged up and released a powerful Thundershock upon Pidgeotto. The lightning within the tornado made it seem even more like a storm, and with the lightning slowly subsiding, so did the tornado. Pete did a flip as he jumped off trying to stick the landing like an Olympian as Pidgeotto crashed into the ground, beak first, clearly out for the count. I called Pete over to administer a Potion before Falkner's second and final Pokémon came out.

Falkner returned his Pidgeotto, before getting ready for his second Pokémon, "I must admit Quartz, your Pichu has quite the tenacity. Keeping a firm grip, even within our Twister, and even beyond that, managing to pull an attack at the same time. I must say I'm impressed."

"Same here," I answered. "Using Twister on yourself in an attempt to make Pichu lose his grip, I have to admit, that was completely unexpected." Although it's weird commenting on a scene that just happened, if we're going to spend a couple minutes talking in between turns in battle, I'm all for it, it just means Pete's going to get a bit more time to recover.

"It seems that Gold is teaching you well," he responded calmly. Teaching me? This whole "protégé" ordeal started last night! The most he's done is teach me the Gym format.

"Sorry, but that was all me," I told him. "I have yet to get a proper lesson with Gold-san yet." I looked at Gold on the sidelines who was looking rather annoyed at his lack of recognition.

"Is that so?" he inquired, before turning back to the battle. "In any case, here's my final Pokémon!" He threw his Pokéball into the air. Please, by some miracle, don't be Skarmory. "Skarmory!" Damn it! The metal bird that served as Falkner's trump card that we just saw Gold take on was now our opponent that stood between the badge and us. "You can make the first move," Falkner finished as he watched behind his Skarmory.

'Brute force won't win against his Skarmory,' I thought to myself. 'I need some sort of strategy.' Easier said than done, despite some lucky strikes here and there, Pete and I kind of relied on brute strength. Yeah, weird coming from a Pichu, eh? Then again, we've only had 3 real battles up 'til this point, so planning really wasn't something we practiced. "Pichu, use continuous Thundershocks at Skarmory!" Pichu ran up towards Skarmory firing several blasts of electricity, constantly in several directions. The constant electricity started to make it hard for Skarmory to dodge with certain jolts just missing Skarmory.

"Skarmory, blow it back and ascend to the sky!" Falkner called out. The metallic bird flapped its wings and caused a powerful gust of wind to blow back Pete, attacks and all. As Pete got back up, Skarmory was already high in the air, like before, out of reach of a Thundershock. With Thundershock out of the question, I guess we'll have to-

"Waiting for me to come to you?" Falkner said, literally finishing my thoughts. He smiled seeing the shock in my face. "You didn't really think I'd make the same mistake twice, coming in close so you could easily get in range." Truthfully speaking, I really thought he might be willing to risk making the same motion, I mean how else is he going to attack me? "Skarmory, Rock Slide!" Oh yeah, I kind of forgot that it knew that. Several boulders of varying sizes were created from pure energy around Skarmory before falling down upon the field where Pete stood.

"Pete, run as fast as you can, dodge the rocks!" I called out. Pete then swerved back and forth as it moved out of the way of one rock to dodge another one currently falling. Thankfully, Pete has always been rather agile and was able to dodge all the boulders.

"Skarmory, don't let up, continue the Rock Slide," Falkner called out. The onslaught of falling rocks continued with no real end to be seen.

"Pete, keep it up! Keep dodging!" This cat and mouse game, or rather bird and mouse continued, as Pete continued to dodge rocks that continued to fall from the sky.

"What's your plan, Quartz?" Falkner asked as the scene continued on the field, "You can only dodge for so long, and if you can't find a way to hit us, you're out of luck." I hate to admit it, but he'd right. Eventually there will be no where for Pete to run as rocks are constantly falling and there's no way we can reach Skarmory when it's so high up. I watched the scene before I finally began to see a pattern.

"Pete, climb up the rocks!" I yelled out. The rocks may have kept falling, but not all at the same time or speed. With the correct amount of speed and agility, Pete could jump from rock to rock and eventually climb up to where Skarmory was in Thundershock range. Pete began jumping from rock to rock and after a few quick turns in which direction to jump, it was at equal latitude with the bird. "Now, Thundershock!" With the distance reduced, Pete firing a Thundershock right at the Skarmory. The bird moved glided a few feet to the left dodging our attack.

"Skarmory, throw the rocks over towards Pichu, instead of the ground!" Falkner called out. The course of the boulders shifted from falling to being thrown threw the air.

"Pete, bounce off the surface of each rock to get closer to Skarmory!" Pete began jumping off each rock, only staying on for a second before the next rock came to be the new foothold. Eventually, Pete landed on Skarmory's back, same situation as before. "Now hold on, and use Thundershock!" The continuous shocks began just like last time, except this time, there wasn't a Twister to cause a chaotic whirlwind in the middle of the field.

"Skarmory, dive down and throw it off you!" Falkner called before looking back at me. "Skarmory is far faster than Pidgeotto, no matter how much you hang on, you're falling off this time." Faster, eh. I guess we'll have to change that.

"Pete, use Thunder Wave and jump off!" Pete gave a weaker electric charge than the blast of electrical power it gave before and jumped off as Skarmory was nearing the ground. As the Thunder Wave hit, Skarmory started to fly at a much smaller altitude than before. Thunder Wave may not deal damage, but it causes some paralysis and makes a Pokémon slower than before. Skarmory won't be flying at top speed anymore for the rest of this match. However, as Skarmory seemed to be running out of steam, so did Pete. While Pete didn't take any real physical damage, the constant running from Rock Slide was started to make his movements sloppy.

"Skarmory, use Steel Wing!" Falkner called out. Skarmory's wings began to glow before Skarmory felt a jolt of electricity and stopped its attack midway. The effects of out Thunder Wave were kicking in.

"Pete, Thundershock!" With Skarmory feeling the effects of paralysis, Thundershock was easily fast enough to reach it before it could really take off into the skies and leave our range. The metal bird took the shock and lost even more altitude, just barely being above ground level. Since Skarmory is pretty much guaranteed to be in our range, there's two ways of how I can proceed: the safe but extended way or the risky but quick way. The first method would to keep Pete at a distance and use Thundershock every time paralysis kicks in, however, the battle would take much longer that way, and I can't guarantee Pete being able to dodge Skarmory's advances that long as we wait for the chance of paralysis. The second strategy is to just go in with Volt Tackle and finish this match in one hit. The only problem there is our chance of success. 50/50 odds aren't all that reliable. If we fail, after factoring the recoil, all it should take is one hit to take us out. As I saw Pete breathing heavily with fire in his eyes, I decided that we had to take a chance. "All or nothing, Pete!" I called, "Volt Tackle!"

As Pete began the lightning tackle, Falkner continued to call to his Skarmory. "Skarmory, shake it off! Fly out of its range!" However, the paralysis gods, praise be to Raikou, seemed to be in my favor, and Skarmory continued to stay in place.

'Perfect, we got a still target, now all Pete needs to do is to execute Volt Tackle correctly.' My partner charged at full speed towards Skarmory, completely enveloped in lightning and eventually collided with it. However, upon collision, the electricity around him fizzled out, ineffective. With no power behind the Tackle, Pete bounced off the metal bird and fell back with more damage taken than dealt. What was worse was that Skarmory was starting to get back into gear.

"Alright Skarmory, push them back with Metal Sound!" The bird gave an irritating screech that pushed Pete off the ground and sent him flying to the other side of the field. "Now finish it with Flash Cannon!" Following the shriek was a silver energy blast fired from the metallic bird's mouth. As the blast surrounded Pete, all I could do was watch and wait for the end result. From the smoke Pete fell, and upon reaching the floor was out for the count.

"Pete!" I called as I ran over to his side on the field. He was okay, but rather disappointed in the loss. I tried to put him back inside his Pokéball, but he decided he was well enough to walk. Falkner withdrew his Skarmory as he walked over to us.

"A pretty good battle I must say," he began, "However, what happened with your last attack?"

"Volt Tackle is usually our ace in the hole," I explained. "However, we haven't gotten around to perfecting the ultimate technique. Its success rate is at about 50%."

"I see," Falkner responded. "May I offer some advice then? Learn to wield a weapon before bringing it into battle, or it will only be a hindrance rather than an asset." I thanked him for the battle and the advice before looking over to the stands. Gold exhaled and looked up, seeming to be deep in thought. After a second he got up and walked over to me. As we began to take the platform back to the bottom, Falkner called out one last thing, "Also, be aware how much your Pichu can do alone! I look forward to our next battle!" We headed towards the platform we went up on and headed back down. We exited the Gym and headed to the Pokémon Center, all the while without either Gold or myself saying a word.

* * *

As I handed Pete off to Nurse Joy to be checked on, Gold finally broke the silence, "So, how do you think that went?"

"You saw how it went, I Iost." I told him, the meaning of those final two words finally dawning on me.

"I don't mean that, I mean how do _you_ feel about the outcome of the match?" he asked, his face more serious than I've ever seen on him before.

"I-I-I don't really know," I answered. "After the first two matches against the Gym Trainers, I felt pretty confident, but now, I don't know what to think."

Gold's face lightened up and said, "Well, I guess at least we learned not to underestimate someone just based on type advantage." I looked at him with a confused look. We? "Hey, I kinda pushed you into a difficult battle you weren't ready for right out of the gate, so we both can learn from this." He sat down at one of the couches of the waiting room and shrugged, "We'll just need to do some training and get you better prepared for next time." He gave me a grin and a thumbs up.

"I guess so," I answered with no enthusiasm. I didn't think a loss would affect me this much. All the energy I had from winning those two previous battles was gone, now replaced with disappointment. I heard Nurse Joy call my name and I went to pick up Pete, with the same dissatisfaction looming around him as well.

"Moping around here won't do a thing," Gold said, hopping off the couch and walking over to me. "You just have to keep at it and never give up. Let's get to training!" He grabbed my arm and dragged his discouraged student over to Route 32 as Pete scurried along behind us.

Upon reaching Route 32, I remembered yesterday and wondered what his brilliant plan was. "So, am I attacking hordes of Pidgey's again?"

"That would have been my first plan, yes, but I think we need to think outside the box this time around. So, any ideas?"

Excuse me? "Um, Gold-san, aren't you the teacher here?" I asked him.

"Well, yeah," he began, "but as we both know, teaching isn't exactly my forte. Also, I don't own a 'Training for Dummies' book to fall back on, so all I've got is personal experience and my personal experience isn't really made for normal Trainers as yourself, since in my case it was only a couple of months or so before I had to save all of Johto and stuff."

"Right…" Totally not helping my mood, Gold, not helping at all.

"Oh," he exclaimed, "Did Falkner give you any pointers? Usually Gym Leaders give some advice to losing Trainers to help them improve."

"Well, kinda." He did say some stuff, but he wasn't exactly clear on what exactly he was trying to say.

"What do you mean?"

"He said something about learning to use a weapon or it'll be a hindrance or something, it wasn't really all that clear."

"So he's speaking in Super Serious Gal language, eh?" Gold said, scratching his head. "You got any context to help me out here?"

"I was telling him about how Volt Tackle is like a 50/50 chance move in our case, and he responded with that, so does he mean like perfect Volt Tackle or something?"

"That's a good idea!" Gold said, "However, I'm not exactly sure how to teach you."

"What do you mean, your Pichu knows Volt Tackle, right? Can't you teach Pete?" I asked, with a cry of agreement from Pete below me.

"The thing is, Pibu learning Super Rising Thunder, or Volt Tackle in your case, was only possible due to the extra electrical power we received from Raikou at the time. Even after practicing it with him, he only truly mastered it when Yel-" Gold stopped mid-sentence. He grinned and ran back into the city, "I gotta make a phone call, train here on your own for a bit, I'll be right back!" Couldn't he just use his PokéGear? I was going to ask him but before I could, he was already out of reach. I guess it's just Pete and me then.

 **Gold's POV**

I ran out into town PokéGear in hand, making sure Quartz wasn't anywhere in sight. After seeing the look in his eyes, I knew the best course of action to take at this time was to leave him alone for a bit. The first time a Trainer loses always marks an important step in their development. I remember my first real loss, back at Ecruteak City against Silver. While I bounced back fast, the circumstances were once again, different from what Quartz is experiencing right now. In any case, the only real plan of action was to let Quartz get back up on his own. However, that didn't mean I shouldn't get working on the next step.

I pulled out my PokéGear and went through my contacts. The bet Crys and I set up was me teaching Quartz the ropes, but there was no rule forbidding me from getting some additional 'teaching assistants' if you will. So, who was the best choice? Usually, I'd just call Silver, being the two of us are pals and such, but Silver's avoided getting involved in any of our bets since last time… Okay, so we caused some property damage, accidentally blew a hole in the local jail, and had to clean up and track down some criminals. Big deal, but _no_ , apparently that was too much for him.

With Silver not being an option, my best choice would probably Senior Red, and probably also Senior Yellow for good measure. They both had Pikachu's and mastered Volt Tackle, so they'd be ideal for the job. However, Super Serious Gal is always telling me to stop asking our seniors for favors, but this is something they specialize at, so I guess this can be counted as an exception. I found Red's number, and clicked video call as I waited for the leader of the DexHolders to pick up.

 **Red's POV**

I was strolling through the streets of Viridian City headed to the local art studio where Yellow worked at. She wouldn't get off for at least another hour, but I preferred getting there early when I picked her up just to see how she was doing. I was about halfway there when I heard my PokéGear ring and I answered to a hasty Gold.

"Senior Red! Hey, glad I could reach you! What's up?" he said extremely fast, his face obviously showing there was an ulterior motive to this call.

"I was just walking over to the art studio to pick up Yellow." I decided to make this quick and asked the obvious question, "Gold, don't take this the wrong way, but is there something you need from me?"

"What, I can't just-" I gave him a stern look, telling him to cut the act. "Okay, when's the soonest time you can get to Johto?"

"Well, I do have a Magnet Train pass, so an hour or two, but Yellow and I were planning to go out when her shift en-"

"You can bring her with you," Gold interrupted. "I got this kid with a Pichu who needs a bit of help mastering Volt Tackle, and I thought since you helped me last time, you could kinda help me this time as well," he asked shyly scratching the back of his neck.

"So, you want me to help you train Quartz?" I responded watching his surprised reaction to my knowledge of his new student.

"H-how'd you know about-"

"The entirety of the DexHolders knows about your new student and the bet you got going on with Crystal. She told Silver and he told Blue, and once something gets to Blue, within minutes, everyone knows about it," I explained to him. His jaw dropped in disbelief. "Yeah, she already started up a betting pool among us DexHolders on how long he'll last, and the general consensus is that he won't be able to make it come the Pokémon League next year."

"Well, what's your opinion?" he asked me hopefully.

"Well, I haven't tossed my hat in the ring yet," I told him. "I tend to reserve judgment until I meet-"

"All the more reason to come," Gold yelled, jumping at the chance. "Get to know the kid you're all betting on. Trust me on this one, he won't disappoint." He gave me a big grin, trying to seal the deal here.

"Wouldn't this be breaking the rules of the bet you and Crystal have got going?" I was starting to run out of plausible excuses.

"Oh that," he laughed. "Don't worry about it. I've always found some sort of loophole in these bets I have with Crys. She never said anything about getting help, so she can't really say I'm breaking the rules."

While his offer seemed like a good idea, I couldn't really just change my plans at a drop of a hat. Well, _I_ can, considering being a Trainer as a profession gives you a pretty open schedule, but _Yellow_ actually has a job, and getting her to come without warning isn't so easy to pull off. "Gold, I'll have to hold off on an answer for now. I'm going to check with Yellow, then I'll get back to you. You cool with that?"

"Oh yeah, perfectly fine!" he said back. "All right then, I hope to see you soon!" Immediately after saying that, he hung up on the video call, in as much of a rush as he was upon the beginning of the call. 'For the love of Mew, Gold is truly a difficult guy to figure out.'

Within another half hour, I made it to the art studio where Yellow worked at, _Viridian Designs_. I walked in and saw Yellow in the middle of a lesson, teaching a class to paint a picture of a forest, presumably the Viridian Forest, and how to add certain Pokémon here and there, such as Caterpie and Weedle. As small and delicate as she looked, as she painted, you could feel the confidence she exuded over her class. I waved and sat down at an easel near the back and waited for her. Usually, I would have joined in on the lesson but I was a bit late today. ChuChu ran up to me from the front of the class and greeted me as she continued to teach. I sent out Pika to play with ChuChu as I watched the rest of the lesson.

Upon finishing her lesson, I walked up to her and gave her a kiss as she was putting away her apron and getting her coat. "Great lesson, Yells," I told her, trying to hold off on asking her about Johto, "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, " she said, putting on her yellow sweater and red scarf, "Just let me stop by my house so I can pack."

"Pack? What for?" I asked, not really hiding my intentions.

"We're going to Johto for a couple days, aren't we?" she asked me. Before I could ask her how she knew, she gave me a smile and showed me her PokeGear's latest messages. "Gold texted me. Based on your surprised face, I'm guessing right after he called you. He really covers all his bases, doesn't he?"

"We don't have to go, it's just Gold asking for a favor. Besides, don't you have-" I tried to protest.

"I checked with my boss," she told me. "I've saved up a bit of vacation time." She smiled and looked up at me, "Besides, we could use a vacation for just the two of us, right?"

"Yeah," I said back, smiling, "I guess we could." Ever since Yellow and I started going out a few years back, we haven't really done much with all that's going on. Yellow's got her job at the studio and also volunteers most of her weekends watching over the Viridian Forest, while my schedule usually just fluctuates based on what challenges I can get or interviews and the like, being a former League Champion and one of the few who have defeated the Elite Four and Champion after they were re-established. Even after I moved to Viridian, since the rest of us Senior DexHolders lived here, we haven't really been able to have a date with just the two of us. Most of our dates have either been doubles with Green and Blue, or interrupted by fans who'd recognize us as members of the DexHolders. So in a way, I guess we could both use this an excuse for a vacation. We decided to split up in order to pack before meeting up again at the Viridian Pokémon Center before heading to Saffron.

* * *

 **January 22nd, Route 32-Johto 5:00 PM**

 **Zircon/Quartz's POV**

After Gold dashed back into Violet, I decided to just go for a walk with Pete to try and clear my head. Although losing to Falkner should have been expected, being a Gym Battle so soon after beginning, it still was extremely frustrating to fully grasp the entire situation immediately. In the end, although Gold had pressured me into diving headfirst, part of it was my fault, too. I had gotten a bit too overconfident after taking down the Gym Trainers with nothing but a type advantage and took a huge gamble during our battle that led to our defeat. I've been kicking a rock around in circles for a while now, trying to think of what I should do next when I felt a shock up my arm.

I looked down to see Pete, trying to snap me back into reality and pretending to box some imaginary opponent, the fire in his eyes actually burning brighter then before. I smiled and watched his cheeks spark, determined to get stronger. 'That's right,' I thought, 'A defeat was bound to come sooner or later, but what truly matters is getting back up and not giving up.'

I knelt down and ruffled Pete's fur. "Thanks buddy, you really knocked me out of my funk." Pete squeaked happily, ready to get back out there. "I'm not sure what Gold-san went to go do, but it seems to have to do with perfecting Volt Tackle, so for the meantime, let's get down to some hardcore training!" I ran out with Pete coming right after me.

However, unlike last time, there wasn't a flock of Pidgey or Spearow out to kill me, so I actually had to go looking for trouble. Unfortunately, the local wild Pokémon were pretty calm today, with most of them running away or avoiding us entirely. I couldn't walk too far into the Route, I wouldn't want to get out of reach of Gold-san or a Pokémon Center within walking distance. Even so, having wild Pokémon to come out and fight us wasn't really happening.

I stumbled upon some cave-like old buildings nearby. If I remember correctly, I remember seeing a program on the Ruins of Alph, which were the ancient ruins of what scientists believe to be an old civilization. The place seemed to be clear, I'm guessing the researchers went home for the day. I tried to steer clear of caves, because I've heard of rumors of these tunnels collapsing without warning. I was about to give up and turn back when I saw a small green bird Pokémon land directly in front of us.

"All right, Pete, we won't let this one get away!" I called out, getting the bird's attention that looked in my direction. "Pete, Thundershock!" Pete sent out a jolt of electricity that seemed to finally get the bird to get serous. The bird's eyes glowed as it controlled some rocks and threw them in our general vicinity. 'A Psychic type,' I thought to myself. "Pete, you okay?" Pete looked back, easily clearing any of the debris from the psychic bird. The bird decided to make a break for it and started flying away. "No, don't go!" I yelled after it. That was finally my chance to get some experience in. The bird glanced back in my direction, but upon looking forward, it crashed into a nearby tree.

"This is our chance," I called out. "Thunder Wave!" Pete paralyzed the bird that was now hopping around in random directions. I was about to call for Pete to land the final blow when I realized I had another option to use: catch it! Adding another member to our squad could certainly help in our rematch against Falkner! I grabbed a Pokéball from my bag and threw it at the bird, making sure my aim was on target. Wouldn't want to waste 200 Pokébucks, now would we? Bull's eye! The ball sucked up the green bird and wobbled a bit before stopping. Success! I ran up and picked up the ball. "All right, I caught a uh…"

Come to think of it, I didn't know what this thing was called. I sent it out to get a good look at it. It was round and green, and about the size of my head, probably a bit smaller. It had a lone red feather on its head and red tail feathers. Its wings were red and yellow, and besides that, it was a basic bird Pokémon. "Well, whatever you are," I said to it, "Welcome to the team!" Pete also gave the bird a welcoming hand-er paw-wing shake. The bird looked at us with a blank stare before flying in a random direction before crashing into a pole. "Hey, wait up!" I ran after my new recruit, making sure it didn't stray too far. 'Great, I get a flying type Pokémon, and it can't even fly straight,' I thought to myself. My bird fell and ended up into guess who, Gold-san's arms, who just happened to be coming back from Violet City.

"Gold-san!" I called out to him. "Thanks for catching, um, well it doesn't have a name yet, but thanks!"

"Uh, sure," Gold said, a bit confused. "What's up with the Natu?"

"Is that what it's called, a Natu?" Well, that was interesting information. At least I got a name for this before I can come up with my own nickname. "It's my latest partner," I told him. "I caught it while you were gone!"

Gold smiled and looked at the small bird and looked up at me. "Well, looks like you got yourself your first capture! That's another milestone!" He reached out his fist and offered me a fist bump that I gladly reciprocated.

"So Gold-san," I asked, "You said this was called a Natu, do you know a lot about this Pokémon?"

"Actually, I do," he said as if it was something uncommon for him to know. He's a DexHolder, shouldn't he be an expert on this? "Crys has had one on her team for quite some time before she evolved it into a Xatu." So, I've got its evolution's name as well. "Here, my PokéDex has got the entrees on this species filled out already." As I took the PokéDex from him and read the entrees on both Natu and Xatu, he mumbled to himself, "Well, I can't get Super Serious Gal to help us train this Natu…"

"Wow!" I exclaimed, "It says here that Xatu can see the future!" I picked up my bird and lifted it up. "This little guy is a visionary!" That's a good idea! I lowered it and looked at it at eye level, "You know what, that's what I'll call you! Visionary the Natu, Arie for short!" The Natu, now known as Arie, just stared at me with a blank expression.

"Visionary, huh," Gold said as I put Arie down and started to heal his Paralysis and wounds, "It's a…unique name to say the least," he said. Gold looked at his PokéDex before continuing to fill me in with information on my new companion. "Well, for starters, it says here that Arie here is a male." Good, getting a clear gender is good start. "As for its battle abilities, you probably noticed that it is a Psychic-Flying dual type combination," he said as I nodded, exactly what I was thinking. "Lastly, " he read, "according to the PokéDex, it says that its current moveset consists of Confusion, Air Cutter, and whoa, Future Sight already." He looked up at the two of us and gave us a huge grin, "Seems like a powerful addition to the team!"

"You hear that, Arie," I told him, "You've got great potential!" Pete chirped in as well while Arie just looked off into the distance. After figuring this out, I remembered that Gold disappeared without a trace a moment ago. "Hey Gold-san," I inquired, "why did you go off into Violet earlier?"

Gold gave us an even bigger grin as he said, "Well, you see, I remembered how Pibu eventually perfected Volt Tackle as well as who actually helped me realize the name of this move in the first place." He looked at his PokéGear and kept his smile and continued, "And according to this text, it seems those two people are coming to help us out! Quartz, get ready because it a couple hours, you will be meeting…"

 **Meanwhile…**

 **Saffron City-Kanto 5:00 PM**

 **Normal POV**

In a cemetery on the edge of Saffron City, the Trainer who recently almost wrecked the Saffron Gym, Leader and all, knelt before two graves. This black haired Trainer, known as Garnet, opened his eyes and got up as he looked upon the names on the graves, Daisuke and Clara Fukushi. He looked at his PokéGear, noticing it to be almost time for the next Magnet Train to come by. He turned and drew a Pokéball from his belt and was about to send out his Pokémon before looking back to another grave, far separate from the others. This grave wasn't like the others with a tombstone and a name, but rather a patch of ground with just a small rock signifying a grave.

"Not yet…" he said with a low voice, before he turned back and sent out a blue dragon that he hopped on and flew into the main city.

 **Red's POV**

"Come on Yells, we're going to miss the train," I called out to her. We took a tad longer than we anticipated in getting ready and by the time we flew to Saffron, we were cutting it pretty close to the 5:15 train. I packed light and only needed to bring my backpack, but for some reason, Yellow managed to pack an entire suitcase. "How long do you think we're going for?" I had asked her as we dashed to make the soon to be departing train.

"We're going to see Gold," she said. "If the time it took him to master Blast Burn is any indication, this is going to take a lot longer than we think."

"Ah, I forgot to think about that," I said facepalming, "I might have to head back and get some more stuff later on in the week. Anyway, let's go, the train's leaving any minute now." We flashed our Magnet Train passes chasing after Pika and ChuChu who ran past the gate before getting on the train and plopping down into the first seats we could find. "We just made it," I breathed as Yellow laughed lightly and Pika and ChuChu jumped onto our laps.

I heard a man clear his throat and looked up at the person across from us. His hair was a darker shade of black than my own, and his eyes a deeper hue of red as well. However, that's where the similarities ended. A scar over his left eye and right cheek covered his face and he looked as if he were suited for battle, and more than a typical Pokémon battle at that. I myself thought Yells and I were on vacation, so instead of wearing my typical outfit, I left my sleeveless red jacket and hat at home, hoping it would help keep me from being recognized. I threw on a red jacket with yellow flame accents since it was winter and tied a yellow band around a tear in the left sleeve. Yellow dressed the same as usual, but also brought a red scarf and yellow jacket.

"Sorry, man," I told him as I got up, "Is someone sitting here? We were kind of in a rush, so we just dropped into the first seats we could find. I hope we weren't disturbing you."

"It's fine, no one's sitting there, " he said softly. I sat back down slowly and looked back at the guy who was watching us closely. As the train ticket collector walked by, I decided to break the silence as he handed the train guy a ticket while we showed him our passes.

"A ticket, eh? Not many people travel using the Magnet Train with a one way ticket rather than a pass, you on vacation or something?"

"No," he said, "I'm not a fan of public transportation. I usually ride my Pokémon, however I just flew all the way from Unova and I thought I'd give my Pokémon a rest."

"That's nice," Yellow smiled. "So, I guess that you're a Trainer?"

"Yes, that's true," he said before looking us straight in the eye. "Speaking of which, are you Red Akairo and Amarillo del-"

"SHHHHH!" I quickly whispered to him. "We're trying to not get noticed if you know what I mean."

"I told you that disguise wouldn't work," Yellow whispered to me, "Your hair sticks out like a sore thumb!"

"Look man," I bargained with him, "What do you want, an autograph or something, just don't blow our cover, we're just trying to take a vacation."

"It's fine, I'll keep it down. No need for panic," he said as he looked out the window.

We breathed a sigh of relief, "Thanks, that was a close one. So, why are you headed to Johto?" I asked, hoping to keep a pleasant conversation to pass the time.

"I'm looking for someone," he said closing his eyes, brow furrowing. "In fact, maybe you can help me. I'm looking for Carr, one of the former Three Beasts of Team Rocket. Based on a lead of mine, he's in a prison in Johto. Do you perhaps know which city he's in?"

"Depends," I told him, as my demeanor got serious as Yellow looked along getting nervous. "Who's asking?"

He pulled out a badge from his pocket, "International Police."

I lightened up, "Oh, ok then. In that case, I'm not sure which city, but I'm pretty sure Gold knows. We're actually meeting up with him, you want to come with us?"

"I would like that very much, thank you, Mr. Akairo and Miss Verde," he said as the train began to stop as we reached Goldenrod Station.

"Call me Yellow Viridian, " Yellow told him

"As for me, just call me Red," I told him. "So, what's your name?"

"Fukushi, Garnet Fukushi, he said as the doors opened.

 **Zircon/ Quartz's POV**

"WHAT?" I screamed as Gold told me who was coming. "You mean _the_ Red and Yellow?"

"Well, yeah," Gold said casually checking his PokéGear. "Since Red and Yellow helped Pibu master Volt Tackle, I felt it only natural if they help us out with our predicament here."

"I can't believe I'm meeting the leader of the DexHolders," I said, completely ignoring Gold.

"Since when is Red-san our leader?" Gold asked. "I don't remember us having this election. If anything, I think I'm just as qualified if not higher."

"On TV, it usually labels him as leader," I told him. "Probably just as a placeholder or something, don't worry about it."

"Yeah, sure…" Gold mumbled looking in another direction. He's definitely not forgetting about it. He shook his head before looking back at me, much brighter, "Well, let's train for the meantime!" He motioned toward Arie, "Let's give Arie here his debut battle! You're going to use him for your rematch against Falkner, aren't you?"

I hadn't really given it much thought, but I guess bringing in Arie for round 2 wouldn't be so bad an idea. "Arie, let's give it a try, front and center!" Arie flew on top of my head. "Hey, Arie," I whispered as the small bird looked up. "Front and center means on the battlefield, not me." Arie chirped before flying over to the battlefield. "Looking good, all right we're ready!"

"We'll practice aerial combat first," Gold said, reaching for a Pokéball. "There's no doubt aerial combat will be an essential part of Arie's battle style. So, Togebo, let's give 'em a little lesson, shall we?" He threw his Pokéball up in the air and out emerged the familiar bird-fairy Pokémon of his. It looked at me before turning to Gold, confused. "Oh yeah, Togebo, he's out student now, so let's take it easy."

"All right Arie, fly up!" My small bird flapped his tiny wings before finally achieving flight. Togebo soared up and faced off against it.

"Quartz, you make the first move," Gold called out. "I show you guys how to dodge mid-air while getting in close."

"Arie, Air Cutter!" Arie blew several spirals of pressurized wind at Togebo.

"All right Togebo, dod-"Gold started before the spirals blew right past Togebo, none of them even close to hitting its mark. "Hey Quartz, I can't really show you how to dodge if your moves don't even try to hit."

"Uh yeah, sure!" I looked up at Arie who was staring at Togebo. Is it bad at aiming? It took Pete and I around a half a year to perfect our pinpointing accuracy, but Arie's aim was below average at best. "Arie, one more time, dead ahead!" Arie once again blasted the spirals of air at Togebo, this time, with a much higher precision.

"There we go, " Gold called up to his Togebo. "Charge in and dodge!" Togebo flew right at us and turned sideways as the Air Cutters flew by it. "Now you try!, Togebo, Air Slash!" Togebo flapped several blades of air at Arie.

"Okay Arie, dodge! " Arie flew away from the attack, but unlike Gold and Togebo, instead of dodging them while advancing, it just flew off to the side. Unfortunately, one blade hit Arie on the side causing it to fall down. "Arie, keep flying!" I yelled its way. It seems Arie wasn't the best at flying, so speed wasn't going to be an effective tactic. Time for plan B.

"Here is comes again, Air Slash!" Gold called from below the battle in the air.

"Arie, Confusion!" I yelled. Arie's eyes glowed as a couple of the blades of air stopped in place before turning and flying in different directions.

"Ah, Confusion, I guess that's an effective way of blocking as well," Gold said watching. "I guess it makes sense if Arie can't fly that fast. Togebo dodge!" Togebo began to fly before the turning Air Slashes flew past it.

"Arie, you have to aim the move back at Togebo!" I yelled frustrated. It ended up going like this for over an hour. Arie would attack, missing completely, I'd give it more specific directions, where its second attack would go more on target, where Gold would dodge it, rinse and repeat. Arie eventually started to look tired, so I called it down for a break. Arie landed next to me and started pecking at the ground. "Arie, in the skies against another flying type, you have to always have your eye on the opponent because they're always moving." Arie looked up, not at me, but at Pete, who looked back confused. "Come on Arie, look at me," I said before it turned its head in my direction. Gold called back Togebo before checking his PokéGear.

"Well, a rough start," he said, "but nothing we can't fix with some practice. "Let's take a break. I got a text from Red just now, says he and Yellow made it to Goldenrod about ten minutes or so ago, they should be almost here if they're coming by flying. As he finished three shapes appeared overhead. One was a Butterfree, another an Aerodactyl, and lastly a blue dragon, whose species I didn't know. Each of the Pokémon dropped off a person. Off of the Butterfree was a blonde girl, looked about my age or so, and from Aerodactyl a man with black spiky hair. Both of them had a Pikachu hop on their shoulder, the girl's Pikachu with a flower in its fur. Off the dragon, was a guy with hair as black and as spiky (if not more) as the first guy hopped off behind them. They returned their Pokémon before walking towards us. I returned Arie as they reached us, getting up, and looking at Gold to see what to say.

"Well, we're here, " the first guy with spiky hair said. He turned to Gold and held out his hand, "Hey Gold, how ya doing?"

"Great, " Gold greeted, "Thanks for coming Red-san! Let me introduce you to Quartz." Gold using honorifics? Gold may say he doesn't think Red's their leader, but from his attitude I can tell, official title or no, Red is treated as the leader.

Red looked over at me, head to toe, before smiling and waving. "Hey, the name's Red, Red Akairo." He stuck out his hand.

I grabbed his hand immediately and shook it nervously, "Q-Qu-Quartz, nice to meet you," I stammered. Red: the leader of the DexHolders, Champion between regions of Kanto and Johto, I was shaking his hand!

"Calm down, kid," Red said laughing. "You've already met Gold and Crystal, I'd imagine you'd be used to meeting us DexHolders. Speaking of which, this is Yellow."

The blonde girl walked up and stuck out her hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Yellow Viridian." I shook her hand trying to act less like an obsessed fanboy. She turned to Gold, "Gold, how is Ami-chan doing?"

"She's doing fine, last time I checked, Yellow-san" he responded. "I last ran into her about a month ago in Olivine." OK, two things. One, did Gold say Yellow- _SAN_? She's older than him? She doesn't look any older than I am, and she's older than him?! Second, who's the third guy behind them?

At least one of my questions was answered with, "So, Red-san, who's the guy with you?"

"Oh him," Red said looking back at the guy as he walked up, "This is Garnet, we met him on the train ride here."

The man walked slowly, looking at the two of us before looking at me, giving me a hard look. His face was his most intimidating feature, with scars that looked like he'd been through some rough stuff throughout his life. His dark red eyes seemed to be staring into my soul, as if I had taken something from him. "Uh, h-hi," I managed to make out. He ignored me and set his gaze on Gold.

"Gold Kaito, I presume," he said straightly.

"That's me," Gold said, "What's up?" His cheery disposition went away as this Garnet guy stared at him for a couple more seconds.

"I'd like to ask you some questions, if you don't mind," he said, straight out, as he walked over to the side of the Route.

"Chill out man," Gold said, shaking off the effect of having that guy stare at you before turning to me. "We can talk later, right now, I'm kinda training this kid here."

"Uh Gold," Red said quietly, tapping his shoulder. He leaned over and whispered something in his ear that made Gold jump and shiver.

Gold looked over his shoulder back at Garnet and quickly said, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. You wanted to talk? Sure thing buddy, what about? Don't be shy, anything's fine!" I watched as Gold shook crazily in front of the man before him.

"Just a couple questions, nothing too serious." He said calmly. "But first, " he looked over to me, "you said you were training this kid, doing what exactly?"

"W-well, you see, "Gold made out, "His Pichu over here, is having some trouble mastering Volt Tackle, so I was trying to help him. " He motioned over to Red and Yellow, "That's why I called Red-san and Yellow-san for some help."

Garnet looked back at me, giving Pete and I a long, hard stare. Pete hid behind my leg, peeking over every couple seconds to see if he was still looking. He pulled out a Pokéball and summoned a green and white Pokémon with arms the seemed to have swords on its arms. "Have him practice with Kenshi for the time being. We'll talk as he trains."

"Uh, Mr. uh-Garnet, right," Gold said, "Quartz is kind of a new trainer, I don't think putting him against a Gallade is a proper training partner."

"Is that so," Garnet said, closing his eyes. He looked back at his Gallade. "Kenshi, training method 23." His Pokémon nodded before looking back at Pete and I. As he walked back toward Gold and the other two DexHolders, he said, "Don't worry, Kenshi is going to let you test out your attack power on him. He won't attack at all." I looked over to the swordsman-like Pokémon taking on a defensive stance, bracing itself for any attack that might come its way. Garnet looked over to Gold, "I hope this will suffice?"

"Yeah, sure," Gold said slowly, "Thanks."

"Compared to what you have done for all Trainers across the region, this is nothing," he said. "Besides, this way your student can train as we talk." He looked at Red and Yellow, "I would like it if you would join us." Red and Yellow nodded and the four of them began talking as I Iooked back at the Gallade, still bracing itself for an attack.

"Well Pete, you heard him," I told my partner, who was still hugging my leg. "This is a method to test out moves, so lets practice Volt Tackle!" Pete looked at me to make sure it was okay before running out in front of the Gallade. "VOLT TACKLE!"

 **Gold's POV**

"So, what do you need, " I said slowly, "Officer," adding the title quickly.

"Well, I come to Johto in search of one of Team Rocket's 3 Beasts," he said. "The one known as Carr. Your seniors have mentioned that he is detained in a prison somewhere in Johto."

I looked at Red and Yellow before saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if I remember where he is. I mean, Silver's usually the one who keeps track of Team Rocket members. Which one was he again?"

Red stepped in, "He was the guy who tried reviving Team Rocket 5 years ago, before the 4 generals stepped in." Who? "The really short one?"

"Ohhhhh, Shrimpy!' Why didn't he say so? He knows I don't bother to learn the names of those Team Rocket lackeys. Hell, the only reason I know Giovanni's name is that he's Silver's pops. I turned to Garnet, "So, officer, you're looking for Shrimpy?"

"Uh, sure," he said. "Shrimpy."

"Oh, he's in the Ecruteak Penitentiary." I remember when all of them went to the separate jails, Silver wanted each of us to make sure we kept an eye on them to make sure they were locked up. Since I live in Goldenrod, I was in charge of making sure Shrimpy didn't manage to squeeze his way out some small hole in the wall or something. "However, the guards don't let just anyone see him. Even that International Police guy our juniors worked with, what was his name… Handsome-"

"Looker?" the gloomy cop asked me.

"Oh you know him? Well, even he didn't have the credentials to see him." I told him. "You gotta rank pretty high in the police force if you wanna talk to him."

"Don't worry about that." Tall, dark, and brooding told me as he walked over to where Quartz and the Gallade were training. "Looker's a good cop, he just a bit goofy for some of the more important jobs."

"Well then, I guess you gotta shot," I told him.

Red called behind him, "Do you want me to call another DexHolder to go with you? Carr's one of the sneakiest members of Team Rocket, he'll slip right through your fingers if you're not careful. I'll call Sil-"

"No." The cop looked back with eyes that could lower a Pokémon's defense stat several stages. "I prefer to work alone. Besides, I'm not that bad a Trainer myself." Damn, Scary Face ain't got nothing on this guy. Well, best not piss off the cop any further, so we ran after him as he returned to Quartz and his Gallade.

 **Zircon/ Quartz's POV**

"One more time! Volt Tackle!" Pete ran at full speed cloaked in electricity before slamming into the Gallade. The Gallade nudged him off, another dud. Our success rate was actually getting worse. We tried like 10 times and only 1 time did it seem like a success, and even that time it seemed like Gallade was unaffected. How powerful was that thing?

"Alright Kenshi, time to go." I heard Garnet say as he returned to his Pokémon's side. "Kenshi, what's the status of his Volt Tackle?" His Gallade's eyes glowed for a second as it made eye contact with him before closing them and nodding. "You there," he said looking at me. "Your Pichu hesitates the final second before impact, causing the move to constantly fail. It seems this happens more often against stronger foes. If you want to master that move, you must get over that weakness."

"Pete, is that true?" I asked him as I knelt by him. Pete gave a small squeak in defeat, affirming his statement.

"Wait, you can communicate with Pokémon?" Yellow called as the 3 DexHolders ran up.

"No," Garnet said. "My Gallade here can connect our minds via a psychic link that lets us transfer thoughts as if we were speaking." He sent out the blue dragon he arrived on and pulled out Gallade's Pokéball.

 _'By the way, you there_ ,' I heard a familiar voice in my head. _'I'm using Gallade's psychic powers to relay a message to you that I don't want the others to hear_.' I looked up at Garnet who was staring intently at me. _'I can tell you're hiding something, and frankly, right now, I don't care what it is. However, if that secret ends up causing a problem that reaches me, I will find you and take you out. Remember that if you ever think of doing something stupid_.' I stood up and tried to hide my fear as he then returned the Gallade to its Pokéball before surmounting the blue dragon.

"DexHolders, I thank you for your help," he said as his dragon started to flap its wings.

"If you got any more questions, don't be afraid to ask," Red said as he waved to the departing dragon.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said before flying off into the horizon on his dragon.

After he disappeared from view, Gold clapped his hands together, "Now that that's over with, Red-san, Yellow-san, can you help Quartz with what we set out to do today?"

"Um, Gold-san," I motioned over to Pete," I think we should call it for the day, Pete's kinda tired from the recoil of using Volt Tackle so many times in succession."

"I can help out with that," Yellow said as she knelt down beside Pete and touched him on the head. Slowly, Pete got up and seemed to be in top form, if not better.

"What happened?" I asked as Pete was dancing, full of energy.

"I was born with special powers gifted to me from the Viridian Forest," Yellow said as she lifted herself up. "I have the ability to heal and communicate with Pokémon. "

"Really?" Is that even possible?

"Yep, it's true," Red said, as he walked next to Yellow. I looked over to Gold who grinned, also confirming that it was true. "So," Red looked down at Pete and I, "Let's officially get started!" He looked behind him were the two Pikachu's were running about, "Pika, ChuChu, come here!" As the two electric mice ran by, he crouched down to give directions to them, "So, this is Quartz's Pichu, Pete." He motioned over to Pete who stopped dancing and hopped over to the evolved versions of himself. All three electric rodents looked back to Red, "Pete here is having trouble with Volt Tackle, so we're here to help him out! Pika how about we give him a demonstration on," he pointed to a boulder in the distance, "that boulder." The Pikachu ran extremely fast and was immediately surrounded by electricity as powerful as it was fast and crashed into the boulder. When the smoke from the explosion cleared, the Pikachu stood there while the boulder had been obliterated.

The other Pikachu, ChuChu looked over to Yellow, "Sorry, ChuChu, guess you'll have to show him next time."

Gold sent out his own Pichu, Pibu, and motioned for all 4 electric rodents to practice in the nearby grass. "Yellow," he asked, "Could you check on Quartz's Natu? It was acting weird when we were training earlier and I think there might be something we're not seeing."

"Sure," she smiled. She looked at me as I pulled out Arie's Pokéball.

I sent out Arie and watched as Yellow crouched down near him. "His name's Arie."

"Arie, huh?" She closed her eyes and touched Arie's held and nodded every now and then, I'm guessing understanding whatever Arie's trying to say.

"Well?" Gold asked.

Yellow opened her eyes and looked at me and smiled. "It doesn't seem like it's anything major. Based on what I got, it seems your Natu has myopia."

Gold started crying, "I'm so sorry Quartz, I had no idea that your Natu had such a condition, we should get it to the Pokémon Center right away! We shouldn't have had it battle without checking if it was okay," he wiped his eyes. "How bad is it, Yellow-san?" Yellow looked at him confused.

Red rolled his eyes and looked at me, "Myopia means it's nearsighted. Your Natu's not in any danger."

I looked down at Natu who was looking at some random tree. "So, what you're saying is that Arie needs glasses?"

"That seems to be the gist of it," Red said, looking at Arie with a small smile on his face.

"Wait a second," Gold said, wiping off the rest of his tears, "Can't Yellow fix it with her powers?"

Yellow shook her head, "I tried, but it seems Natu's had this problem from birth. I can only heal Pokémon that have been injured from a battle or something of the sort."

As I took a look at Arie as he looked at me (at least I hope he was looking at me) I got an idea and went shuffling through my backpack. "Will this work?" as I pulled out the glasses I used before I switched to contacts. I kept them in case I lost my contacts, but if it could help Arie, then why not?

Red smiled and put them on Arie, "Only one way to find out." Arie blinked a couple times as the glasses were put on his face before chirping happy while flapping his wings while jumping up and down. "Seems like we have an answer," Red said as Arie flew up to his height. As the glasses fell off Arie, Red caught them and said, "Let me adjust these for Arie's head, so they don't fall off during battle," as he moved off to the side with Arie and tinkered with them for a while. "You should check with the Pokémon Center later, get a more exact prescription for the future."

As I looked over to Pete who was squeaking along with Pibu and the two Pikachu, and looked back at Red working with Arie's glasses, I teared up a bit. "Red-san, Yellow-san, both of you, thank you." Both of them smiled and as I looked up at Gold, I knew we were finally going to be getting somewhere.

* * *

Over the next couple of days, Yellow and Red helped Gold train me in preparation for my inevitable rematch with Falkner. Yellow and Red ended up staying at the same hotel Gold rented for me back several days ago. We ended up facing Pete against some of Gold's Pokémon in an attempt to get him to keep from hesitating when facing tougher opponents and with some pointers from Pika and ChuChu our success rate was getting higher with every passing attempt and after a while, we started practicing on boulders like we were shown that first time. As for Arie, after changing the lenses for a better prescription specified for him, Red modified my glasses into a pair of goggles that strapped to his face to keep them from falling off. With his sight no longer being a problem, I was able to practice aerial battling opponents of differing speeds, whether it was Gold and Togebo, Yellow and her Butterfree: Kitty, or Red and his Aerodactyl: Aero. They also gave Arie some help with flying on how to use the winds beneath his wings for easier soaring. We would train several hours a day, and then Gold and I would do some teacher-student training as Red and Yellow went out by themselves to enjoy their vacation time. With all this training, a victory in our rematch with Falkner felt more and more like a possibility and less like a dream. It could have gone like this forever and I would have been happy, but like all good things, they had to come to an end.

 **January 24th, Route 32-Johto 7:00 PM**

BOOM! Pete did a backflip after jumping off a successful Volt Tackle against a boulder like the one Pika had showed back on day one. As the smoke cleared, about half the boulder was still there, but the amount of the boulder that was destroyed was enough to count it as a success.

"…and with that, we've brought the success percentage up to 80%!" Yellow called from over where Pete, Pibu, Pika and ChuChu were celebrating. Gold, Red, and I stopped our aerial training to see the power of the attack.

"Nice job, Pete!" I knelt down a gave him a fist bump. Arie flew down and gave him a nod. A small discharge of electricity came off of Pete giving the two of us a small shock as the three laughed before we decided to call it a day. We were heading back to town before Red asked me to stay back and train for a few minutes and Gold and Yellow went ahead of us.

"What's up, Red-san?" I asked, normally if it was just normal training, we could have just waiting until tomorrow.

"I wanted to test something out," he said pulling something out of his backpack. "Here," he handed me a CD of some sort.

"Uh, thanks, but I don't have a CD player," I told him, trying not to sound ungrateful.

Red laughed, "It's a TM, or Technical Machine for short. It teaches a Pokémon a move they might normally not learn naturally. This one here is special, and I think Pete here might be able to make good use of it. Just hold it next to Pete and the machine will flash and teach Pete the move."

"Okay, then." I had seen TM's for sale at the local PokéMart and knew how expensive they were, so I wasn't going to take this for granted. I knelt down and held it up to Pete as it glowed before it shattered and Pete glowed before he nodded confirming he got the move. "So, now what?" I asked Red.

"Let's test it out," he turned and pointed to a rock. "Fire it at that rock, and you'll see a new type of power you've never seen before.

I got up and nodded, "All right Pete use-"

 **January 25th, Violet City-Johto 12:30 AM**

I couldn't sleep. After all that happened today, I was incredibly excited. Pete was reaching new heights I hadn't dreamed of, Arie was finally reaching his potential, and for the first time, we seemed like a legitimate team. Of course, I can't forget the help that Red and Yellow have been giving me over the past couple days. Well, Gold did invite them, so I can't forget his help as well. He _is_ my teacher after all. Even if he isn't the best at this job, after the shaky initial startup, he really managed to get into the role of mentor.

I got up from my bed. We were actually staying at the Pokémon Center instead of camping outside for a change. The rooms were cheap but good enough that if we were close enough to one, we might as well use it compared to just roughing it. I decided if I can't sleep, I might as well go out for a walk. Pete and Arie were in their Pokéballs asleep, so I decided I'd leave them in the room while I go out and get some fresh air. I put on my coat, shoes, told Nurse Joy I'd be out for a few, and took a walk on the streets of Violet City. Eventually I ended up on the outskirts of Route 32, just outside Violet. I looked around where we trained for the past couple days particularly at the damaged boulders from numerous Volt Tackles.

I looked up at the sky and thought about how much had changed in the past couple days. As I zoned out I failed to see a small shadow of a Pokémon flying straight for me. I blinked out of my musing and saw a large bird Pokémon headed straight for me. I ran out of the way and ducked, bracing for some sort of impact, but all I ended up seeing the bird Pokémon landing on the floor, looking carefully at me. I walked up to it, making sure it wasn't trying to attack me. Out of all the bird Pokémon in the Kanto-Johto Regions that I knew of, this one seemed unlike any of them. It was blue with two large tail feathers being some of its more noticeable qualities. It motioned down for me to look down where I saw a note tied to its leg. I pointed to myself asking if it was for me as it nodded and I took the note. Upon taking the note, the bird took off, and based off my limited knowledge of Johto's geography, I'd say it was headed for New Bark. Since it was headed for me, that left only a few options. From what I knew, Mom didn't have a Pokémon like that on her team, and if she knew I had left, she'd have come looking herself and probably would have found me by now. As for big sis Jade, well based on what I know, she's never left Johto, and thus that being her Pokémon is impossible, so whose is it? I looked down at the note in my hands, being the only answer I had. I took a deep breath and opened it up. I took one look at the handwriting and noticed it immediately. DAD?!

 _Dear Son of Mine,_

 _I bet you're surprised reading this letter, huh? I bet you didn't know your old man was a Pokémon Trainer as well! Well, not so much anymore, but back in the day, before I met your mother, I was a Trainer just like most kids, and a pretty good one if I may say so myself. Never as good as your mother, but that's beside the point. If you're reading this letter that means my Swellow found you after flying all the way from Hoenn. Knowing you, you've probably changed your appearance and everything, but Pokémon have that sixth sense that'll help them find you no matter how you change. Anyway, I see you finally seized the chance to run away and start your own adventure (I knew those home security cameras would come in handy)! Now, normally I'd tell your mother immediately, but I know how you feel, and how being cooped up in New Bark your entire young life just isn't good for you, while everyone you made friends with back all those years ago when you were at the Trainer's School have gone out and started their own adventures. So, I'll make an agreement with you. I'll keep this a secret until I return to Johto a week after I left, so Tuesday the 27th. I'm giving that much time to put as much distance between you and New Bark before your mother finds out. In any case, I wish you the best of luck. Remember, no matter how much this experience changes you, you'll always be Zircon Jacinth Idaisa to us. Just know I'm wishing you the best and if you can, try to send a signal back home, telling us you're OK._

 _Best of Luck,_

 _Dad_

I don't believe it! Dad knew about all of it, from Pete to my scheme to run away, all this time! However, he's giving me this chance, and I can't afford to waste it. I've got today and tomorrow before Tuesday, that's 2 days, 48 hours, that's how much time I have before Mom finds out and undoubtedly comes after me. That means by then, the least I can do is defeat Falkner and put some space between home and me. This is my one and only chance.

 **Later that morning…**

"WHAT?!"

We had just finished eating breakfast when I announced that I was ready to challenge Falkner once more.

"Are you sure?" Gold asked, "It hasn't even been a week yet, and you haven't fully mastered Volt Tackle."

"I'm sure." I looked him in the eyes and gave him a look that would convey that I was ready. He closed his eyes in acknowledgement and grinned.

"So, when do you want the match?"

"Tomorrow, I want one last day to train before it happens. I need to come up with strategies to counteract him and especially that Skarmory of his."

"All right, I'll call Falkner and make sure he's at the gym," Gold said, grabbing his PokéGear.

"Well, Red and I don't have to head back until Wednesday, so I guess we'll be able to watch your match," Yellow said.

"So," Red began, "with that in mind, how about we get to training!"

"Before that," Gold stuck out his hand, "I want to give something to Quartz." Give me something, what? Gold reached into his bag and pulled out a familiar item.

"A TM?"

"Yep," Gold smiled. "I was going to give this to you earlier, when you caught Arie, but it kind of slipped my mind with everything that went on, but with all the training you've done over the past couple days, you should be able to use this well."

I took the TM and checked what move it was. "Volt Switch? I thought you said you weren't going to teach me that until later?"

"I said I wouldn't teach you until you a second Pokémon where you could use it to switch out, and now with Arie, you've got 2 Pokémon." I knelt down and used the TM on Pete, thus adding Volt Switch to Pete's arsenal of moves. "Okay," Gold got up, " _Now_ we train for tomorrow's match."

Instead of the basic training that we did the last couple of days, we decided on powering up Volt Tackle and how to use the newly acquired Volt Switch to make tactful switches between Pete and Arie in order to get the jump on Falkner. I had gotten rid of Thundershock in place of Volt Switch because although Volt Switch's secondary effect of switching out even when I don't want to switch out could be annoying, I felt Thunder Wave would be needed to slow down Skarmory. Therefore, learning how to use Volt Switch effectively and be able to switch between both Pokémon and strategies on the fly became the main focus of my training that day. By the end of the day, I truly felt like I was ready for my match tomorrow.

"Well Quartz," Gold began, "Even though Volt Tackle has yet to reach 100% accuracy, I think we've managed to come up with enough backup plans in order to not have to rely on it all that much."

"I'm actually excited to watch this match tomorrow," Red said, "what about you Yells?"

Yellow was about to answer, but then her PokéGear started to ring. "Just give me second." She answered her PokéGear, "Oh, hey Blue, what's up?" Just then a loud shriek came from Yellow's PokéGear that made Yellow pull it away from her ear before continuing. "Blue, what happened?...Okay, Blue, I'm going to need full sentences if I'm going to help…HE DID WHAT?...You're kidding, right?…Okay, I'm coming now, explain when I get there. Okay, bye!" She then looked at us and smiled apologetically, "I'm really sorry, but Blue needs me back at Kanto ASAP. By the way, Red, check your PokéGear, I have a feeling Green might need you as well."

Red pulled out his PokéGear, "What makes you say th-OH." He looked over at us and gave us the same apologetic smile, "Yeah, Yellow's right. We actually have to head back now. Sorry Quartz, we won't be able to see your match, but good luck!" Red and Yellow both sent out Aero and Kitty respectively and hurriedly went back to Violet to get their things before heading back to Kanto.

"What was that about?" I asked Gold after they were gone from view.

"Truth be told, I'm not sure, " Gold said. "However, Yellow was talking to Blue, so it could mean any number of things, good or bad." Gold turned to me, "In any case, you have a Gym Match tomorrow, so we should probably call it a day and get ready for tomorrow. We can worry about what happened afterward."

I thought about it before agreeing as we headed back to Violet City and got rooms at the local Pokémon Center. That night, I fell asleep, the only thing on my mind, tomorrow's Gym Match and its importance.

 **January 25th-Ecruteak City-Johto 5:00 PM**

 **Normal POV**

The Warden of Ecruteak Penitentiary walked into the jail, finally back from his business trip, confused as he saw the guards there, scared out of their minds. "What's going on, you all look like you've seen a Gastly? We live in Ecruteak, I thought you'd all be used to Ghost types."

"T-that's not it, sir," one of the guards spoke up. "It's that Trainer that's in the waiting room." He pointed to a black haired Trainer in the other room, his eyes closed, patiently waiting. "He's been coming here for the past 3 days, trying to see Carr."

"Well, did you tell him that no one's allowed back there?" he asked.

"Yeah, but he won't leave," another guard said. "None of us are brave enough to ask him to leave."

"You guys are hopeless," The Warden sighed, before walking out into the waiting room. "Hey, my guards are saying you want to talk to someone?"

Garnet opened his eyes and looked up, not getting up, "I'm here to speak with Carr of Team Rocket's 3 Beasts."

"I've heard," The Warden responded, "However, we don't just let anyone in there. Unless you've got a notice from the Pokémon Association or-"

"International Police, " Garnet said, standing up and pulling out his badge, "I'm here to speak with Carr to help with a lead on finding Giovanni."

"International Police, huh," the Warden said, looking at the man before him. "Let me see your badge for a second." He took the badge and checked it, "Seems legit. Well, I'm sorry, but no one's allowed back there unless-"he stopped as he eyes reached the ranking on his badge: superintendent. "Oh, I'm extremely sorry, I didn't know you were a superintendent," he said quickly, sweat dripping through his head in panic, "Right this way, sir." Garnet took back his badge and followed the Warden to the extreme lockdown area of the jail. Before opening the door, the Warden looked back to Garnet and said, "I'm really sorry about this, but I gotta accompany you back here." Garnet nodded in acknowledgement as the Warden opened the door and led him to the cell that held Carr. He was wearing black clothes, practically identical to those in Team Rocket, only missing the large red "R" on the front.

"What's going on," the short man turned to see the people visiting him, "To whom do I owe the pleasure?"

"He's International Police," the Warden told him as Garnet looked down at him. "He's got some questions for you."

"I've told you people before, "Carr said, irritated, "I don't know nothing about Giovanni. Last time I saw him was 5 years ago, when you arrested me."

Garnet pulled out a Pokéball when the Warden spoke up, "Whoa, what are you-"

"Don't worry," Garnet said softly, "I know what I'm doing." He sent out his Gallade. "Kenshi, read his mind." The swordsman-like Pokémon's eyes glowed as it looked at the scowling Team Rocket member. After a minute it looked at Garnet as he nodded and pulled out another Pokéball and sent out a Houndoom. "Kenshi relay the coordinates to Cerberus." His Gallade nodded before looking at the dog for a few seconds before the canine quickly ran out of the station.

"Wait, what's going on," the Warden watched as Garnet's Pokémon left the jail. "You come here saying you want to ask some questions, and next thing I know, you're sending out Pokémon, explain to me what is going on around here?"

"He has several Forretress out at the edge of the city, all with commands to blow this jail sky-high tonight. " Garnet said as Carr mouth dropped in shock. "My Houndoom is going to take them out." He returned his Gallade, saying, "I'm going to have to bring him to headquarters. Let's get this done, I've got until tomorrow night to report back and I'm already behind schedule."

"Y-yes sir," the Warden muttered as he looked at the man walking back to the main entrance as he called the guards to help handcuff Carr before taking him away.

* * *

 **Hey, once again, I apologize for the lack of updating this story. I got stuck on how to connect both Zircon/Quartz's side of the story and Garnet's and how to continue from there. In short, I was kinda focused on smaller details. From there, classes started to pile up work and before I knew it, it was time for finals.**

 **Also, for this story, the Elite 4/ Champion for Kanto/Johto is a lot like the one in Hoenn, where there is a Pokémon League every 3 years and the winner gets to challenge the Elite 4 and Champion in order to become a Champion in their region. As before, having 8 badges allows you to skip the pre-lims. In this story, Red is one of the few to have defeated the Elite 4 and Lance since it was re-established in this fashion, giving him the title of champion between regions.**

 **I've also made it that all the Kanto DexHolders live in Viridian seeing as Green and Yellow already live there and all of them are old enough to live on their own, I decided that Red and Blue would have moved there as well.**

 **As for names: Red Akairo-aka is red in Japanese. As for Yellow, I've decided that for this story, in legal purposes, her name is the full Amarillo del Bosque Verde, but basically goes by Yellow Viridian as it sounds better as a last name and actually has a reason for later on.**

 **For the next chapter, Zircon/Quartz's rematch with Falkner begins, with this match truly determining whether or not he's cut out to be a Trainer.**

 **As always, any questions, suggestions, or reviews are highly appreciated. Thank you once again for reading or reviewing!**

 **-MateiFire**


	5. Only the Beginning

**Hello everybody! Reaching Chapter 5 here! I plan to pick up the pace from here on forward as the story continues. Everything before here was mainly to set up the setting and characters for the most part. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

 **DISCLAIMER:** **I don't own Pokémon, be it games, anime, manga, or anything else.**

 **Chapter 5: Only the Beginning**

 **January 26** **th** **-Violet City, Johto 9:30 AM**

 **Zircon/ Quartz's POV**

I looked down at the piece of paper in front of me, filled with scribbles all over the place. I had woken up earlier than usual, and started writing down scenarios for today's upcoming rematch with Falkner and how to counter several possible moves and strategies he might make based on the info from our last battle. 'Obviously, our main problem is that Skarmory of his,' I thought to myself, tapping over certain points on the paper as I thought over them, 'It's movepool consists of Rock Slide, Steel Wing, Metal Sound, and Flash Cannon. Also, unless I paralyze it, it can easily fly out of Pete's range.' I looked over to my yellow partner who was eating next to my no-longer-blind bird, Arie. Normally Arie wouldn't be so important in this battle if I hadn't switched out Pete's Thundershock for Volt Switch. While more power was great, unless Pete was the only Pokémon I had left, it was a move that forced a switch out and was my best electric attack that was guaranteed due to Volt Tackle still not being perfected. Yes, while 80% was much better than our previous 50/50 odds, I decided that risking the match on a gamble wasn't worth it the second time around. Besides, I only have one chance at this. The letter Dad sent me gave me only until tomorrow when he got back, and unless I win here, I can't exactly just leave Violet, therefore making finding me all the easier.

"Quartz, you up already?" Gold yawned as he stretched out upon entering the main lobby of the Pokémon Center.

"Yep," I replied crumpling up my notes. I tossed it to the nearest trash bin. I've planned out what I can, so what's left is to just go out and do it. "I've already ate breakfast too, so hurry up Gold-san, I'm ready to get going."

"Hey," he pointed at me, "Do not rush your _Master_."

"I thought we agreed on _teacher_?"

"Master, teacher, potato, potahto, same difference," he shrugged walking back to the room to pack his things and get ready. I sighed and turned to my two partners, one sparking at the ready, and one looking at me, with the same vacant expression it always had.

Within an hour or so, we were once again at the doors of Violet Gym. It's been only 4 days, but it feels like several weeks since I last approached these doors. I looked at my teacher, who gave me a big grin, which helped me relax. I took a deep breath before looking straight ahead as I opened the doors.

The first thing we saw was Clyde, as usual. "Hello, and welcome-" Clyde began, "Quartz, you're back? It hasn't even been a week! You giving it another try already?"

I nodded with a determined grin which made my message clear, 'I'm here to win this time.'

"Well, in that case, scan your Trainer Card and head on up," Clyde announced. "Since you've already defeated the Gym Trainers for your level, you can skip them and go straight to Falkner. Good luck!"

I smiled as Gold and I walked past him onto the platform that raised us up onto the battlefield where Falkner knelt on the other side, presumably meditating. "Back so soon?" he asked, opening his one visible eye looking straight at us. "Hopefully improved, I should expect?" I nodded and walked over to my side of the battlefield as Gold walked over to the stands. There's no time to waste, let's get this over with before anxiety decides to take over. I looked down at Pete who ran up, front and center. "Starting with Pichu again," Falkner said, making his way to his side of the field. "In that case," he pulled out a Pokéball, "Pidgeotto, to the skies!" The large bird flew overhead, facing us as Falkner finally reached his side.

'Starting off the same as last time,' I thought to myself. 'Well, let's hope the final outcome is what ends up being different.' The referee checked both sides before starting the match.

Falkner went straight on the offensive, "Pidgeotto, Aerial Ace!"

"Pete, Thunder Wave!" I called out in response. Step 1: Get the advantage in speed and lower his Pidgeotto's altitude. The bird clashed into Pete and received a small electric shock in return. 'Aerial Ace is a move that won't miss,' I thought to myself, 'but the damage is worth the reward,' as I saw the bird flying lower, the paralysis clearly taking effect. "All right, Pete," I said, taking my chance, "Volt Switch!" The move might force us to switch, but with the paralysis affecting Pidgeotto, Arie should be able to keep up. Pete shot a large ball of electricity at Pidgeotto, hitting it dead-on before retreating back into his Pokéball, causing Arie to pop out immediately.

"A new Pokémon," Falkner observed, "and a flying-type no less! Then there is no choice but a battle in the skies! Pidgeotto, take this battle up high!" He said pointing up. His bird, while struggling from paralysis, made its way up.

"Arie, don't push yourself, follow at your own pace!" Paralysis or no, despite the improvement from past couple of days, Arie's wings aren't that big and aerial battles weren't our strong suit, so keeping up with Pidgeotto would be difficult.

"Aerial Ace!"

Perfect! "Confusion!" I called out. If his moves can't miss, then all I have to do is stop him before he reaches his destination. The Pidgeotto's attack was stopped in mid-air as I motioned for Arie to toss it back down until it crashed into the floor. As the smoke cleared from the debris, Pidgeotto was revealed to be out of commission. As Falkner called back his bird I congratulated Arie as he flew back down, his face with as vacant an expression as ever. I chuckled as I thought, 'I guess whether he can see me or not, Arie is always on cloud nine.'

"I see," Falkner called as he looked back to me. "So, Thunder Wave was used in order for Natu to be able to match Pidgeotto in flight." I nodded, smiling only for a while before returning to focus completely on the match. While Volt Switch's power made taking out Pidgeotto even quicker than last time, we both knew it was just the appetizer to the main course of the battle. "So," Falkner pulled out the other Pokéball, definitely containing said main course, "You ready for the real battle to begin?" He threw the ball in the air and out came my worst nightmare, Skarmory. The metallic bird flew around before it settled at a certain height. I decided I needed Pete at full power to take on this monster, so I decided to let Arie continue as I sent him back into the air as it flew before it was facing Skarmory at eye level.

"Arie, Air Cutter!" I called out. I knew Skarmory would be able to either shrug off or dodge my attacks, but if I could drop its speed any percentage, it would be the difference we'd need between winning and losing.

"Push through and use Steel Wing!" Falkner cried. As Skarmory's wings glowed, they smashed through Arie's spirals of wind before into Arie who fell back.

"Arie, don't lose altitude!" I called. When Falkner has the height advantage, he truly controls the flow of the battle as a whole.

"Hmmm, not bad," Falkner mused, before calling out his next attack. "Time to send you back down, Rock Slide!" The metallic bird began forming rocks before tossing them in our general direction.

"Arie, Confusion!" Arie's eyes glowed as it stopped a couple rocks to use as a shield against the onslaught of rocks and throwing some back towards Skarmory before eventually getting overwhelmed. However, Falkner's Skarmory was also so focused on attacking that when my reflected rocks flew back, it hit him as well. From the cloud that was forming in the explosion in the sky, both Arie and Skarmory fell out, with both Falkner and I calling for them to get back in the air. While Skarmory quickly got back in position, Arie took a while before balancing itself along the wind. Unfortunately for us, at this point Falkner was in position to take the chance we had given him.

"Skarmory, trap them! Metal Sound!" Falkner cried as his bird's screech pushed Arie back with no way to escape. I knew what was coming next: Flash Cannon. It was the same strategy he used when he defeated Pete in our last match! Based on how far back Arie was being pushed, there was no hope of getting out of the way before the Flash Cannon. Also, factoring previous damage, I knew Arie wouldn't be able to withstand the Flash Cannon, so I decided that if Arie was going to get defeated, it might as well send a gift for the future at the very least…

"Arie, Future Sight!" Arie opened a couple of portals and blasted rays of psychic energy into both before Skarmory dove in after already readying the next attack.

"Flash Cannon!" The flash of silver light came from the large, metallic bird, engulfing my smaller, green bird. I caught Arie as he fell, obviously out of the count.

"Thanks Arie," I returned Arie to his Pokéball. "I make sure that your efforts lead to our victory." I pulled out Pete's and summoned him. I looked over at Falkner, the battlefield mirroring what happened the first time around. However, this time, Pete was much more full of energy in comparison to last time. "Pete, use Volt Switch before they fly out of range!" With Pete as my only Pokémon left, Volt Switch's pesky side effect wasn't an issue anymore. Now it was just a more powerful electric attack at our disposal.

"Skarmory, dodge it." Skarmory easily dodged the ball of electricity before plateauing again.

'So, without paralyzing it, Skarmory will always either be out of range or able to dodge our attacks,' I thought to myself. I did practice with Volt Switch, but I'm not sure how different its range is compared to Thundershock. Then again, I had one other option…

"Rock Slide!" The command from Falkner ripped me out of my thoughts and thrust me back into the action.

"Pete, same strategy as last time, climb the falling rocks!" I called out. Pete began his climb as the rocks continued to fall.

"That's not going to work two times in a row!" Falkner smiled before yelling out, "Skarmory, Flash Cannon through the rocks!" Without rocks continuing to fall, Pete couldn't get a stable footing, and all the rocks were lined up for a direct hit. I could only wait and watch as the silver laser began charging in Skarmory's mouth.

'Arceus, please help me in any way you can,' I thought, closing my eyes, unable to watch the scene before me. Then, as if responding to my prayer a blast hit Skarmory from behind, causing it to be unable to attack. "Wha-," I began before I saw the cause: the blast from Future Sight finally hit Skarmory! Talk about prefect timing. I decided this was my chance, "Pete, Thunder Wave!" Pete climbed a final rock before giving Skarmory the small jolt of electricity to ensure paralysis.

"Skarmory, use Steel Wing!" Falkner called out. With no more rocks to climb, Skarmory caught Pete and pounded him right back into the ground as it stayed afloat, but with a much lower altitude than before. Pete got up, undoubtedly tired. "Well, here we are," Falkner said, looking upon the field, "Here we are, same position as last time. While planning the Future Sight attack in advance was wise, we've arrived in the same scenario as last time. How will you proceed, Quartz?" He's right, the situation is the exact same as our previous battle, both parties tired, his Skarmory paralyzed, and me without a definite move to finish it off in a single hit. However, if I could just get in close enough, I could surprise him with my new move. "Metal Sound!"

I knew what was coming: once again he was preparing the Metal Sound-Flash Cannon combo! "Pete, stop that wave, hit it with a Volt Switch!" Pete charged up a ball of electric energy and launched in at the wave the metallic birds screech came from. From the collision of both moves, a blast caused a smokescreen. "Now's our chance," I called out, "Move in close and use Volt Switch!" Pete ran through the smokescreen, charged up another Volt Switch and jumped up, face to face with Skarmory.

"Counter it with Flash Cannon!" Skarmory began to charge its blast, but flinched as the effects of paralysis kicked in. Pete took advantage and fired off a Volt Switch, point blank, and propelled himself above Skarmory. For the first time, we had the higher altitude against Falkner.

With Falkner's mind obviously racing on how to escape the current predicament, I knew that confusing him one more time would give us the chance to finally put an end to this. "Hit' em hard Pete, HIDDEN POWER!"

* * *

" _Let's test it out," Red said as he turned and pointed at a rock. "Fire it at that rock, and you'll see a new type of power you've never seen before."_

 _I got up and nodded, "All right Pete, use Hidden Power!" A circle of energy surrounded Pete before he blasted it at the rock. The rock broke, but I wasn't feeling this 'new power' Red was hyping up. When Pete used Volt Tackle, the rock was blown to smithereens, but here it just kind of broke. "Uh, Red-san," I began, not wanting to sound ungrateful, but what type of move is Hidden Power, I wasn't really feeling the Power, y'know?"_

 _He smiled and pointed, "Look at what's left over from your attack." I turned to see what he meant when I noticed it among the debris left over: small flames at the center of the explosion._

" _It's a Fire-type move?!" I stood there in awe._

 _Red laughed before shaking his head, "Well, not exactly. You see Hidden Power is a move whose type differs depending on the Pokémon using it," he explained. "You see, every individual Pokémon has their own Hidden Power type determined from birth, and only by learning this move can they learn a move of a type they naturally couldn't. Many trainers like to test out Hidden Power to see if they could have a Hidden Power of a type they normally wouldn't be able to use."_

" _Wait just a second," I stopped him. "If Hidden Power is a random type that's decided based on the Pokémon, is there a chance that Pete's could have been Electric? Why risk using it when it would just be the same as something like Thundershock?"_

 _Red smiled, "While you're right, it's true that Pokémon could have a Hidden Power the same type that they are, there is a way to figure out their Hidden Power type before using the TM."_

" _How's that?" I asked._

" _There are certain people out there who can immediately tell just from one glance at a Pokémon what their Hidden Power type will be," he said. He stopped me before I could respond as he continued, "While I'm not one of those people, after talking with one of these people over in Celadon City, my natural ability as a battler has given me the ability to figure it out as I see a Pokémon battle. So, while I can't figure it out immediately, after seeing Pete practice over these past couple days, I was able to determine what type it would be. Considering the Pokémon that gave you a tough time in Falkner's Gym was a Steel-type, I figured having a Fire Type move in your back pocket could help you out in the end."_

 _I turned back to where we tested out Hidden Power, and Pete was there, poking at the fading embers, trying to figure out how he caused that. I turned back to Red, grinning, "Thank you so much, Red-san!"_

 _He smiled, "No problem, kid," the 'kid' not bugging me for once. "You know, I think you might actually be able to make it somewhere, even with Gold as a teacher." He continued before I opened my mouth, "Still not so sure if we're talking runner-up for next year's Pokémon League, but some people have made it there and won the whole thing in less time than you have until then, so it's not impossible." I smiled as he gave me this encouragement speech. "So, good luck," he said, giving me a thumbs up, "Arceus knows you'll need it to make it through Gold's teaching." He looked back towards Violet and started walking, "Let's head back, Gold and Yells are probably wondering what's taking us so long."_

" _Right," I said as I ran behind him. "C'mon, let's go Pete."_

* * *

The blast from Hidden Power engulfed Skarmory in small flames and while Falkner stood there, figuring out how to continue after factoring this new information, his Skarmory continued to be unable to keep up, still under the effect of paralysis. "Let's finish this," I yelled, putting extra emphasis on the 'finish,' "Volt Switch!" Pete charged up the ball of electricity and slammed it into Skarmory, right in the face. The blast created some smoke as Pete did a backflip after jumping out from the attack.

As the smoke cleared, Skarmory seemed to get its footing, but it was it truly too much as it fell to the ground, down and out. "Skarmory is unable to battle, Pichu wins, which means the victory goes to the challenger!"

"WE WON!" I cheered at the top of my lungs. I ran over to Pete who jumped at me. "We won!" I put him down and patted the top of his head, "Great work, buddy." I picked up Arie's Pokéball and looked at Arie through the transparent top, "You too Arie, great work." Arie gave me a look that I hope was one of happiness and not another one of confusion. I looked over to the stands where Gold gave me one of his signature grins.

"Well, that was a great battle," Falkner knocked me back to reality as he walked over to me. He had already called back Skarmory and was putting away its Pokéball. "You've definitely improved from last time. Using your Natu's Future Sight to change the tide of the battle was impressive."

"Thanks," I said, scratching the back of my neck, a tad embarrassed.

"Also, hiding Hidden Power until you did was a bit of a surprise. You truly caught me off guard," Falkner knelt down to look at Pete who was acting triumphant. "Hidden Power Fire, correct?"

"Yep."

"Speaking of which, where and when did you guys learn Hidden Power?" Gold, who apparently had made his way from the stands, asked.

"Red-san gave us the TM the other day," I told him. "Remember the time you and Yellow-san went back ahead of us?"

"So that's what you guys stayed back for. I'm guessing Red-san figured out Pete's Hidden Power type, eh?" I nodded.

"In any case," Falkner cleared his throat, "Quartz, as proof of your victory here at the Violet Gym, I am glad to present you with this." He pulled out a silver badge shaped like a pair of wings. "The Zephyr Badge."

"Thank you so much," I said as I took it. My first badge, the first big step to entering the Pokémon League!

"Now, could you please step here," Falkner motioned to an area in front of a camera. "We'll need your photo for Trainer's Center." Oh yeah, Trainer's Center, the nightly news show for Trainers, always had pictures of all the Trainers who had won badges the previous day. I walked over before remembering something as I stood on the stand.

 _Just know I'm wishing you the best and if you can, try to send a signal back home, telling us you're OK._

Remembering Dad's note, I figured this would be the best way to do so. My look and name may be different, so the only way I could secretly do this was with a pose. Back when I was around 7 or so, I remember talking with Dad about the poses I'd do when I became a Trainer. I ended up deciding on a simple pose, one fist up into the sky, as I looked forward. I walked up in front of the camera and lifted my badge to the sky, as I looked forward, 'Dad, it's me. Hopefully you'll recognize this pose,' I thought as I smiled for the photo. The camera flashed and it was done.

I pinned the badge on the inside of my jacket as Falkner walked up to me, "Quartz, could I see your Trainer Card?"

"Sure, why?" I pulled it out and gave it to him.

Falkner pulled out a stamp and put a stamp on the Card before returning it. On the location of the 1st badge was a blue stamp of the Zephyr Badge. I looked at him as he explained, "You see, several reports of Trainers either losing their badges or that their badges were stolen kept coming before the League each year, so it was decided to stamp their Trainer Cards as well as a preemptive measure. This way, it keeps Trainers who have worked for their badges from being cheated out of their achievements." He smiled at me before saying, "Congratulations, you've earned your first badge. I look forward to seeing how you do in the future." He looked toward Gold, "I hope you're teaching leads this boy well."

Gold grinned, "You bet!"

Falkner smiled before looking back to me, "I hope we may have a rematch sometime."

I smiled, putting my Trainer Card away, "Sure!" Gold and I took the lift back down as we made our way out of the Gym.

"Nice win, I knew you could do it," Clyde told me on the way out. I thanked him as we exited the Gym back out into the busy streets of Violet.

"Well, how's it feel to win your first badge?" Gold asked, grinning.

"A lot better than losing," I joked.

"I'd imagine so," Gold said, chuckling. He looked at his PokéGear before continuing, "Now it's pretty early, only being around noon, so I guess we can take the rest of the day off to relax and continue on tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I asked. "Shouldn't we take this extra time to keep pushing ahead?" Of course my real reason for pushing ahead was to get more than a couple towns of distance between myself and New Bark Town before Dad got back, but with Gold, just wanting to continue forward should be a good enough excuse.

"So, what you're saying is that we might as well ride this winning momentum that we currently got?" Gold asked.

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Hey, works for me.

"Well, let's see which way to go." Gold checked his PokéGear's map before continuing, "We got two options from here: either go west towards Goldenrod or south towards Azalea. Both have Gyms, so it doesn't really matter which way we go. Personally, I'd say Goldenrod since I live there and it'd be nice to crash somewhere other than the Pokémon Center, but since I've got badges from both those Gyms, I'll let you call the shots on where to next."

I sweatdropped at Gold's terrible planning. Again, he's supposed to be teaching _me_. "Well," I thought out loud, "What types are each of the Gyms?"

"Azalea's a Bug type Gym while Goldenrod is Normal," he told me. "In Azalea's case, when you consider that Arie is also part Psychic, although he's a Flying type, you won't have a complete advantage like you did against Falkner. However, considering Pete has Hidden Power Fire, it might be the better choice of the two."

"Then, let's do it!" I said, starting to walk before Gold cut me off.

"Hey, cool your jets, Quartz. Let's think a bit about this before we rush off. Azalea might be easier in terms of typing, but then it makes more sense to face it later, right?" I gave him a confused look. What does he mean? He sighed, "If you remember, the Gym scales its difficulty based on how many badges you have."

"Yeah, I got that. So what?"

"So, you are going to have to fight Gym Leaders you have a disadvantage against eventually. Therefore, you might as well take them on earlier rather than later, when they're more difficult."

He's got a good point there. It's the whole 'do the hard part now or later' concept that always came up back in school. I could go with the type advantage now with a Gym scaled to two badges and end up facing a Gym with a type disadvantage later with it being scaled much higher, or do the opposite. "Well, when I get to those Gyms," I asked, "won't I just have other Pokémon that will help me fill in those weaknesses?"

Gold thought about it for a moment before saying, "Well, yeah, I guess you could think of it that way as well. So, we're headed for Azalea?"

"Azalea," I said. With that, we stocked up at the nearest PokéMart before headed over to Route 32 once again.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **January 26** **th** **-Somewhere in Johto-11:00 AM**

 **Normal POV**

"Drain Punch."

In the middle of a forest far off the map in Johto, the grating sound of punch after punch sounded as a black-haired Trainer ordered his green swordsman Pokémon that delivered blow after blow to the short Team Rocket member Carr, who was tied to a tree.

"AGHHH!" Carr screamed as he coughed up blood, a small pool beginning to form at the floor beneath him. His face was damaged all over to a point where it was almost unrecognizable, his short stature being the only thing that could be used to identify him. There were several bloodied bruises on his body signifying points where the Gallade had already punched him. His vision was blurring as Drain Punch was not only causing him immense pain, but also draining him of his energy. He looked up at his assailant who was only wearing a sleeveless black shirt and jeans, the vest he was wearing earlier tossed off to the side.

"Wake up," Garnet said, looking over him. "I'm not done with you. Now tell me, where's Giovanni?"

"I told you already, I don't know!" Carr cried, pleading for the torture to stop. "After the Four Generals failed in their mission to create the Legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh, they all disappeared! Hell, I was locked away the entire time! I brought them together to reform Team Rocket and they double crossed me!"

"Kenshi, try reading his mind once more," Garnet said looking away from him. "If he doesn't give up any more information, we'll beat it out of him." He looked back at his victim, "Make this easier for both of us, before Kenshi breaks you and you become useless." The green swordsman Pokémon's eyes glowed as it began to probe his mind.

"You won't get away with this," Carr said as he winced in pain. "This is police brutality! Just wait until the message from Ecruteak Penitentiary makes its way to your headquarters. If you show up with me like this, you're finished!"

"Speak of the devil," Garnet said as his PokéGear lit up. "Zeta, did you intercept the e-mail to headquarters?" A red circle popped up on his screen before the image of a blue and red duck shaped Pokémon appeared on his screen. "Good, delete it and start running through all of Carr's files, emails, and anything else we've managed to get from him." He turned back to the short man who was glaring fiercely at him.

"You'll never get past the firewalls my computer has set up over my information," he smirked before coughing up even more blood.

"Don't worry about that," Garnet said. "Zeta is my Porygon-Z, specially tailored for infiltrating encrypted files and different cybernetic firewalls. In a few minutes, I'll have access to all of your files, be they deleted or otherwise. Now, all I need is the information in your head." He looked over to his Gallade whose eyes were still glowing as it tried to read Carr's mind. "NOW TALK!"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Carr growled. "You're a member of the International Police! This kind of torture is against the code you people follow!"

"Ugh, why do you think I'm doing this way out here," Garnet sighed. "The law enforcement of the International Police is too lenient. It's no wonder they've failed time after time on locating Giovanni or any leaders of evil organizations up to this point! Do you really think I'm doing this with permission from those fools?" He stared back at Carr, the fire in his eyes blazing like an inferno. "Listen, I make my own rules, whether the higher ups like it or not. Way out here, _I_ _am the law_."

"Look, I know nothing." Carr said softly, barely holding on at this point. "You're better off asking one of the Four Generals, the other two Beasts Orm or Sird, or any other member at this point."

"I have no leads on the locations of the Four Generals at this point," Garnet said. "And no lackeys in Team Rockets I've been able to find have any info either." He looked off into the sky and closed his eyes. "As for the other two Beasts, they've already passed on."

Carr's eyes widened, "What? When? How?"

Garnet turned back to him, "Orm died some years back in police custody recovering from injuries sustained after the incident when your airship crashed near Vermillion City. After years of recovery, he finally succumbed to those wounds. As for Sird," he paused. "She wasn't even truly part of Team Rocket, rather undercover for Team Galactic in Sinnoh. Further investigation proved she wasn't even fully loyal to them either."

Carr eyes grew wide in disbelief, "Wait, she was a spy all along?"

"I had to kill her a couple years back during a mission that went completely out of hand that is now the reason I work outside the International Police," Garnet knelt down and looked Carr at eye level, "That only leaves you." Carr squirmed both in pain and fear of the glare from the Trainer in front of him. "Kenshi, anything?" The Gallade's eyes stopped glowing as it shook its head. Garnet stood up and looked at Carr before saying, "This is your last chance, either give me the information I need, or die."

Tears began to fall from Carr's swollen eyes as he looked up at the merciless monster that stood before him. "I told you, I have no idea where any of the Four Generals, much less Giovanni are. Any shred of information I have would be among my files, which you already have." He hung his head, crying in pain.

"So that's it," Garnet said closing his eyes. He opened them, glaring one last time at the man before him, "I'll make sure your death is painless then, Kenshi: Drain Punch, full power." The green swordsman formed a fist that glowed brightly before slamming it right into the stomach of the Team Rocket member, ripping through the rope that bound him.

"Damn you…" he squeaked out for a second before the punch drained the last of his energy and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Garnet pulled out a small handgun and pointed at the fallen figure in front of him.

"Goodbye, Carr of the Three Beasts," he said as he pulled the trigger and the last of the Three Beasts had died. Garnet and his Pokémon washed up at a nearby river. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this once again, Kenshi." His Gallade just closed its eyes and bowed its head. Garnet returned it before checking his PokéGear to see how Zeta was doing on decrypting all of Carr's files. He put back on his purple sweater and red bulletproof vest. He pulled out a small book from his bag and flipped through it until he reached a page with Carr's face on it. He took out a red pen and marked it out with an 'X" before putting it back. He sent out two Pokémon, Cerberus, his Houndoom, and Ryujin, his Salamence. "Cerberus, burn the entire scene. Ryujin and I will fly over to Base Camp 17, We'll meet you there." He hopped on his dragon and they flew off as his hound ran back and set fire to the entire area where Carr's body lay. "May Arceus have mercy on me for this," he said as he flew off into the distance.

* * *

 **January 26** **th** **, Route 32-Johto 12:30 PM**

 **Zircon/Quartz's POV**

Walking into Route 32 felt kinda of weird in a way. While we were moving up this time around rather than sticking close to Violet, Gold and I had been training here for the past several days. In any case, since I kinda glided over the Routes leading to Violet due to that first day with Gold's Tibo, this was officially my first time going out into a Route.

Gold looked around, took a deep breath and said, "Well, now that we're here, I'll be off now."

I took a double take here. "Wait, what?"

"I said I'm leaving," Gold said simply. "There's a Pokémon Center at the end of this Route. I'll meet you there."

"Um, Gold-san," I began. "I don't mean to be rude, but aren't you forgetting something important?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know," I said, "maybe the whole _teaching_ part of your job _?_ "

"Oh that," Gold laughed. "It's just a normal Route, you'll be fine making it through. Why else would you have taken that written exam the other day?"

"There's a world of difference between a written exam and the real thing," I tried to explain. One's a piece of paper and the other is me walking out into the wild, fighting wild Pokémon and other Trainers.

"Come on, Quartz," Gold said. "While I did say I would teach you, I can't babysit you the entire way. You know what they say, 'learn by doing' and stuff. Besides, I can't teach you the normal way, remember, my quest involved saving the region and all." His ultimate 'Get Out of Jail Free' card. "In any case," he continued, "If me, savior of Johto, am right here next to you, everyone will be too afraid to battle you because they'll know you're my student and immediately think you're unbeatable, therefore giving you no training."

While that made perfect sense, the importance of what he just said kind of lost all meaning when a little girl, probably just started her journey as well, came up and said, "Oh my Mew! You're Gold Kaito, right? Can we battle?"

Gold turned to me, "All right, you want a lesson? Here's one." He threw out his Typhlosion, Exbo, which proceeded to battle the girls' team without any instruction as Gold kept explaining to me. "You see, you can't say no to a Trainer battle. Win, get some cash. Lose, pay up and go back to a Pokémon Center to heal. Use Potions during or between battles. Throw in some wild Pokémon battles, rinse, repeat, you're golden." Half his explanation flew over my head because in the background, Exbo was decimating the girls' team like they were just Ledyba in the wind. "Any more questions?"

"I guess not," I said as he returned Exbo and the girl ran back to Violet City to heal her team, fighting back tears. I did remember to stock up on Potions for outside battles and I had pretty much everything I needed, so I nodded, signifying that I was good to go.

"Great, I'll see you at the Pokémon Center tonight, then," Gold said, sending out Togebo.

"Tonight?" I asked. "Will it really take me that long to get there?"

"Eh, probably not," he hopped on Togebo.

"Wait, what if I get there early?" I asked.

"It's your first Route!" he called as he took to the skies. "Take your time! Enjoy the adventure, smell the Roselia, get lost if you have to! Trust me, it'll be a lot longer than you think!" And with that, my teacher disappeared off into the sky.

Although it was disheartening to have my teacher just ditch me out of nowhere, it did give me the chance to experience the feeling of being a normal Trainer. I learned how different it was from what I was told, such as battling wasn't just something that happened when two Trainers locked eyes, but rather an actual challenge needed to be issued. Of the Trainers I ran into, all of them had pretty basic Pokémon, usually consisting of something like a Nidoran, Pidgey, Wooper, or some other unevolved Pokémon, giving an easy win for Pete and Arie. However, their lower leveled Pokémon made it feel like we were all in the same boat, beginners just starting out. However, none of them seemed to have beaten Falkner, or any Gym Leader for that matter, which made my achievement seem all the better.

While there were other Trainers there that were obviously at a much higher level in the area, there was apparently an unwritten rule of Trainer etiquette known as 'don't crush anyone far below you just because you can.' As for wild Pokémon, there were a lot of Rattata, but there were also others here and there such as Mareep. While the idea of catching another Pokémon was there, I decided taking care of Arie and Pete was enough for now. When we got to the bridge, I decided to break for lunch.

The bridge is what really made Gold's decision to head on ahead finally make some sense. Several of the fisherman were up to a battle and Pete managed to make pretty quick work of most of their Water Pokémon and whenever there was a part Ground type like Wooper, Arie would take over. While once again, type advantage was probably a huge part of it, it felt like we were growing pretty fast. It was almost like fighting swarms of Pidgey like I did back during Day 1. It was way into the evening when I finally reached the Pokémon Center.

"Quartz, how's it going?" Gold greeted me. "You sure took your sweet time!"

"Isn't that what you told me to do?" I asked.

"Well yeah," he replied, "but I didn't think you'd take this long! It's already past 6! I guess we'll have to leave Union Cave for tomorrow. We'll crash here for tonight. It not every night where there's a Pokémon Center conveniently around the corner, y'know, so let's enjoy it when we can." After renting ourselves rooms for the night, I recounted the tale of the past several hours to Gold as we got dinner.

"Sounds great," he said. I'm unsure whether that was sarcasm or not. "However, for Union Cave, I'll be going with you."

"Really?" I asked. "What happened to the whole 'learning by doing' plan?" Or did he finally come around to actually teaching me things?

"Super Serious Gal got on my case about 'responsibility,' and stuff," he groaned, putting air quotes around the word responsibility. "She said, 'You agreed to teach him so now it's your job to keep an eye on him,'" he said, imitating his girlfriend. "Apparently, she thinks you could get lost in a cave and die or something. Ridiculous, right?"

"Right…" I said, sweatdropping. He does know dozens of Trainers get injured every year due to getting lost in dangerous places or taking a wrong turn off the map, right? There was a reason the Trainer's Equivalency Exam involved questions outside of just basic Pokémon training! Thank Arceus that Crystal, despite against my overall success affecting their bet, cares enough about my well-being to make sure Gold doesn't slack off on his teaching. Afterwards, as he went to bed, I stayed in the main lobby for a while.

'Tomorrow Dad finally gets back to Johto,' I thought to myself. Based on how long it takes him to get home after docking, then factoring how long it will take him to be able to call Mom, (in the case her PokéGear's on since she usually turns it off while training or battling) I got anywhere between 2-5 days before Mom decides to put a bounty on my head large enough to get half of Johto on my tail. In that time, I've got to erase my tracks as well move forward so there's no trail to me. 'Thankfully, Gold creates enough of a scene around him that detracts any detail to myself,' I thought to myself, chuckling.

"Welcome back to Trainer's Center," the TV in the lobby broke me out of my daydream. I looked over as the broadcast continues, "the following Trainers earned badges tonight. From the Ecruteak Gym: Xenotime…" I kind of zoned out until they got to Violet. "From the Violet Gym, Quartz Dorima!" I looked at the picture they got of me, not bad. I figured the pose I used was good enough to send a just subtle enough message to Dad, so he doesn't worry about me too much, but at the same time, hopefully wouldn't give away my position. Anyway, seeing myself on the TV, despite the new name, gave me a huge boost in confidence that helped me go to sleep soundly that night.

 **January 27** **th** **, Route 32 PKMN Center-10:00 AM**

I woke up, pretty easily, confused why Gold hadn't woken me up yet. While neither of us seemed to be really morning people, Gold usually woke up earlier unless it was a special occasion like yesterday's Gym Battle. I walked out into the lobby to see him at a table, eating breakfast.

"Well, well, look who finally decided to get up," Gold said, smiling. "Seems like you're the late one this time Quartz."

"Good morning to you, too Gold-san," I said. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Eh, I'm in no rush," he shrugged. "Just get ready and eat breakfast, I gotta cover our plan for making it through Union Cave." He's got a plan for this? I guess Crystal really did give him a talking to.

"Got it," I replied as I quickly got ready and joined him where he was eating.

While I rushed to eat breakfast, he opened up a map and started explaining. "Now this is like my second time going through this cave, so stay close so we don't get lost."

I almost choked on my food as he said that. After making sure I was okay, I asked him, "Second time? I thought you've been around Johto multiple times!"

"Well yeah," Gold said, as if it were obvious. "However, why would I go through a cave when I can just fly over or around whenever I need to get to my destination. It's not like I'm eager to run into hundreds of Zubat's. Speaking of which, I got us some extra Repels." I stared at him incredulously as he handed me some extra Repels. This is one of the few caves of all of Johto, and he's only gone through it _once?_ "Anyway, from what it says here, it's actually connected to the Ruins of Alph, so if we get lost, we're definitely backtracking quite a bit."

"You mean, we'll be back where we started?" I asked. Really not helping on the 'making distance between myself and New Bark' plan I had going.

"Pretty much, which is why it is important not to get lost," he motioned over to the map. "However, it seems like that shouldn't be a problem unless we head to the water parts of the cave, and since you don't have a Water-type Pokémon, we don't have any reason to go there. So, we'll just go straight through and before long, we should be in Azalea." He smiled and rolled up the map and put it away as I finished up my food. I looked out the window as I noticed a large storm was brewing.

"Should we wait until the storm passes, or are we good?" I asked.

"Nah, we'll be in the cave for a good while, considering there's other Trainers and wild Pokémon," he said. "So if anything, the storm will pass by the time we get out." He picked up his bag and turned to me. "We ready to go?"

I threw out the rest of my food, picked up my bag and nodded. We ran out of the Pokémon Center and made a break for the cave. As soon as we got out of the rain, we took a small break. The cave, while dark, had enough light in it for us to make our way through without the need of a flashlight.

"So, while I did say to stay together so we don't get lost," Gold said, looking around, "There's a good amount of light here. In that case, feel free to explore. As long as we can see each other, I don't think getting lost is too much of a problem. Worst case scenario, if we do get lost, call me on my PokéGear."

"Got it." Once again, we went our separate ways, but not too far off this time. It was like before, if Gold was near me all the time, any challenging Trainers might think twice before starting a battle. As we made our way through the cave, the insane amount of Zubat's began to make themselves known, so I decided to spray one of the Repels Gold gave me to keep them away even if for only a while.

"Hey kid, you want to battle?" I heard off to the side. I looked over to see a Hiker holding up a Pokéball. Well, you can't back off from a challenge to battle, right?

I pulled out Pete's Pokéball and sent him out. "Let's do this!" Pete stretched out his body before getting into position.

"Go, Geodude!" He sent out his rock Pokémon, who floated there in front of me. Well, this is bad. Since Geodude is part Ground type, that's a no to all my Electric type moves. It's also a Rock type, so that makes Hidden Power and Arie also not the best choices. Looks like we're playing the long game, then.

"Pete, Hidden Power!" I called as Pete blasted the Geodude with energy of the move. While it seemed pretty powerful, the Geodude seemed to be unfazed. If I had to guess, Pete was a higher level, but the type disadvantage put the match more in their favor.

"Geodude, use Tackle!" The Geodude quickly slammed himself into Pete, who tried to minimize the damage by blocking the full force of the Tackle. Upon getting to his feet, Pete looked up, more determined than ever. What was better is that Static kicked in during that Tackle and Geodude was paralyzed.

"All right Pete, now's our chance, Hidden Power once more!" Pete shot Hidden Power at Geodude at extremely close range and with a critical hit, took out the Geodude. "Nice one Pete!" I called as the mouse pumped his small paws in victory.

"Not bad, for a kid," he said as he returned his Geodude. As I forced myself from yelling at him for being called a kid, he sent out his next Pokémon, an Onix. I decided I might as well keep up with Pete unless I really felt that I needed to switch it up. "Onix, Bulldoze!" The ground began to shake and as a Ground type move, Pete was really feeling it.

'His Onix actually knows Ground moves,' I thought. 'I got no time to mess around.' "Pete, return!" As Pete got back in his Pokéball, I watched as the Hiker grinned. All I had left was Arie, and Arie wasn't really any better for a matchup. However, at least Arie's movepool was a bit more varied. "Arie, Confusion!" Arie came out and flung the Onix into a nearby wall. I motioned for Arie to fly higher as the Onix got up to try and get out of its close range.

"Onix, Rock Throw!"

"Dodge the rocks and use Future Sight!" Arie flew past several of the flying rocks before firing psychic energy into small portals, for later.

The Hiker looked at me with a smirk before calling, "Onix, Earthquake!" Earthquake? He does know ground moves don't affect Flying types, right? My confusion was answered as Arie was hit by a stalactite from the ceiling of the cave. The constant shaking of the cave cause several to fall. Arie tried to rebalance itself before constantly moving in order to dodge other stalactites. It didn't help that they were falling near me as well. I started running in one direction before a few fell and blocked my exit. I tried to see if I could find Gold, but it seemed the entire cave was caught up in the quake.

"Hey Mr. Hiker!" I called. "You think you might want to calm down with the Earthquake? The cave's practically falling apart!"

"Ha, you surrendering, little man? This is nothing!" He laughed as the cave shook around him. "What's wrong, kid? Where's the confidence from before? Can't handle a small Earthquake!" He laughed loudly as things were getting bad around us. Isn't this guy going a bit far to win a match?

Now under normal circumstances, I would've given up to keep things from going too badly. However, he kept yelling my trigger word, kid, and my self-restraint was growing thin. "I'm NOT a kid!" I yelled. "Arie, Confusion!" With that, the rock snake was lifted off the ground and thrown against the wall once again, finally stopping the shaking of the cave. Before the Onix could fully get up, the Future Sight popped out and struck it, ending the match. As the Hiker returned his Onix, I went and apologized for my little outburst. I really had to learn how to control my reaction to the term 'kid.' Everyone, including Gold called me that, so I guess I had to learn to get used to it.

"It's cool, little man," he said, as I twitched at the last part. "I guess I got carried away myself, in the heat of the battle." He laughed loudly as we parted ways. Note to self, avoid Hikers, or anyone else who seems to be carrying Rock Pokémon. I tried to see if Gold was anywhere around, but fallen stalactites were blocking a good chunk of my way.

"Gold-san, can you hear me?" I called out, waiting for a reply. After several seconds with no reply, I decided to call him. As I took out my PokéGear and scrolled through my contacts, I noticed one major problem. Gold never gave me his number! What a simple thing to forget to account for! 'Great, now I'm lost in the middle of Union Cave, with no sure-fire way to contact Gold.' I thought to myself. Of course, after thinking that, the powers above decided to makes things even worse, and water started to gush into the cave. I knew the cave had underground levels with an underwater lake, factor in the storms along with the quakes from earlier and before long, all the added water caused the cave to flood.

With no water Pokémon to rely on to fight the growing current, I tried to get Arie to fly me to higher ground, but as Arie was never too great at flying on his own, carrying me was obviously not going to work. I put Arie back in his Pokéball as I tried to stay afloat in this current. Now I'm not a terrible swimmer, but I live in New Bark, and there aren't exactly any pools or areas to practice my swimming. There is water at the eastern end of town, but I think I've introduced my mother well enough to explain why that didn't help. In any case, the current wasn't getting any weaker and it wasn't getting any easier for me. If this continued too much longer, I'd need a miracle to save me.

"Masquerain, use Sticky Web!" I heard all of a sudden. In an instant, I was stuck in a web and dragged out of the water by a flying bug Pokémon that I had never seen before. The bug Pokémon, based on what I heard earlier, I guess its species name is Masquerain, dropped me off on some higher ground away from the flood that was enveloping the cave. "Great job, Masquerain!" I turned around to see its Trainer, some girl that seemed to be about Gold's age with purple hair tied back in a high ponytail, wearing what seemed to be either camping gear or scout's gear. She was holding a giant bug-catching net, so I'm guessing she was a Bug Catcher or something. "Masquerain, go out and see if anyone else needs help!" As her Pokémon went out searching for others, she turned to me and asked, "You okay?"

"Yea," I responded, catching my breath from fighting the fierce current. I squeaked out a quick, "Thanks," before I went back to panting heavily.

"Thank goodness," she said. "I was over researching the Ruins of Alph when the water started overflowing. I didn't think the recent storms would be enough to cause the caves to overflow. Don't worry, it's connected to the ocean, so the water should eventually flow out." I looked over to another plateau above the water where her Masquerain was just helping up the same Hiker I finished battling.

"Hey, Quartz!" I heard overhead, seeing Gold flying above with his Togekiss. "You okay down there?" He came down to the same plateau we were on.

"Yeah, I'm good," I said as he landed. "This person helped me out." I pointed to the purple haired girl.

"Gold, is that you?" the purple haired girl asked, looking closer at him.

Gold took a second to respond. "Oh Bugsy!" he exclaimed, "What's up, _man_?" putting extra emphasis on that last word. As I put two and two together, I finally realized how much deeper my savior's voice was. After adding in that Gold turned to me and mouthed, 'He's a guy,' it finally dawned on me: this girl is a guy!

"Gold, can you help me get people to higher ground as I try to find a way to get the cave to drain out faster?" Bugsy asked as sh-he ordered his Masquerain to continue to find people fighting the current.

"Got it," he said, pulling out a Pokéball. "Togebo, help Masquerain get people to safe heights above the water. Polibo, help anyone who might be pulled under, and try to drain the water out of the cave with Whirlpool!"

As both of his Pokémon rushed to their tasks, I saw a side to Gold I hadn't seen before. Most of the time that I've known him, he was pretty carefree and often joking around. Sure, he was serious during battle or when he really got down to teaching me, but his expression here showed one of determination as he helped out. This was truly the Gold of the DexHolders, part of the team of Trainers that are known as heroes among the region. He was entirely focused and serious about helping out in a situation outside a normal Pokémon battle. It reminded me of all the times he spoke of 'saving the region' whether it was to brag or as some random excuse for how he didn't have a clear method to teach me. Witnessing this moment made me realize that despite his normally careless nature and sarcasm, he was still a DexHolder and that a Trainer of this caliber was teaching me.

I stood quietly and watched as both Gold and Bugsy helped get people to shore from the harsh current. As the water level began to go down and it seemed that the main crisis had been averted, Gold finally changed back to his more carefree self. "Well, it seems that most of the people are now out of the water level and Polibo's taking care of draining the rest of the excess water."

"Thanks again for helping out Gold," Bugsy said, as he looked around to see if anyone else was in need of help.

"Hey, don't sweat it," Gold said. "It's a good thing I was passing by with Quartz so I just managed to be able to help." He turned to me, "Speaking of which," he motioned towards Bugsy, "Quartz, I'd like you to meet the Gym Leader of Azalea Town, Bugsy." Wait, this guy is the Gym Leader? I should have had some sort of suspicion with how he seemed to more than the average Bug Catcher, but to run into the Gym Leader in here of all places? Just my luck.

Bugsy stuck out his hand for a handshake, "Hello Quartz, I heard about you from Falkner." Already, huh? News travels pretty fast between Gym Leaders. "So, you're Gold's new protégé, eh?"

"Pretty much," I responded as I shook his hand. It's a bit nerve-wracking that he just saved my life and now that I know he's a Gym Leader and my next big opponent. Not even mentioning that I didn't notice he was a guy until it was practically spelled out for me. Not the best of first impressions I could give a Gym Leader, I'd say. As we finished introductions, most of the water levels were going down, mainly headed to the lower floors.

"I'll finish up with the basement floors," Bugsy said to Gold. "Can I count on you to make sure everyone else makes it back down safely?" Gold nodded and the two of them got to work. Within about a half hour they seemed to be done with everything. "Well, that seems to be the last of it," Bugsy said. "There doesn't seem to be any real casualties, so I guess we got pretty lucky. I'll stay here a while and make sure things gradually calm down."

"You want us to help?" Gold asked, looking around to make sure there wasn't any real damage.

"It's fine," Bugsy replied. "The worst part of it seems to be done. Besides, I called Falkner to help me work out some of the tunnels in the lower levels." Before Gold could protest, he continued, "I also got some more research to do down by the Ruins of Alph, so don't worry."

"Ok, I guess if you say so," Gold conceded.

"It might take a couple days for everything to get sorted out," Bugsy said, now directed at me, "So, I'll have to put off our Gym match until then, that okay with you, Quartz?"

"Uh yeah, sure." I said quickly. Gotta make sure things are in order first, right? As Bugsy walked away and it was just Gold and I, I finally let a big sigh.

"What's up?" Gold asked me, confused.

"It's just that it felt like completely pathetic way to meet my next Gym Leader like that," I told him. "It made me feel like a helpless kid. How can I face him like that?"

"Don't mind that," Gold said. "It's part of a Gym Leader's job to help out when freak accidents like this happen around their town." Really? I thought they just were in charge of testing out Trainers. I guess it's a more demanding job than I gave it credit for. "Helping out people is kind his job." He paused for a second. "Besides," Gold continued, "if you think that was a bad introduction, you should have seen when I met Bugsy." I looked at him confused. "I thought he was a girl and I hit on him," he said, giving me an uncomfortable smile. I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "See," he said, "you got nothing to worry about."

After checking once again on the conditions on the cave, we got ourselves ready to make the rest of the trek out. Due to the recent event, no other Pokémon Trainers wanted to battle either, which was good since it seemed a good number of them were Hikers and had Ground Types which were definitely my weak point.

Upon reaching the exit Gold stopped quickly and jumped behind a rock and pulled me with him. I heard him curse under his breath. "Uh Gold?"

"Shhh!" he said with a finger to his lips. "Quiet! And don't use names!"

"What's wrong?" I asked. The flood crisis was solved and the exit was mere inches away.

"The cave just went through a flood, don't you know what that means?" I gave him a confused look. "That means they'll be TV crews coming through moment now to check out the scene!"

"And?"

"You know how they treat me," Gold said peeking at the exit to see if anyone was coming through. "If I come out now, they'll think I'm the one that caused this mess!"

"But you just saved several people!" I said. "Can't you use this to your advantage?"

"Hell, Bugsy will get all the credit," he said. "He's a Gym Leader for crying out loud!" He looked around and we stood there for a couple minutes in silence just listening for any sign of people coming in.

"So, are we just going to stand here until they clear out?" I asked, breaking the silence. Gold looked up, actually considering the idea. "Gold-san! You can't be serious!"

Gold stood up, an idea obviously being formed. This can't be good. He pulled out a Pokéball, "All right I'm going to get Polibo to blast them with a Hydro Pump. Then, we book it, and we escape any possible reporters? Sound good?" I was about to protest but Gold already was putting the plan into action, heading for the exit.

"Gold-san wai-"

"Polibo, Hydro Pump!" Gold sent out the frog that blasted a huge current of water right out the door. Ironically enough, Gold's plan seemed just like the flood we just went through. This probably wouldn't help the 'troublemaker' personality he was getting known for. "Now run for it!" he yelled as he bolted out of the cave as fast as possible. I didn't run as fast and when I made it out, I ran into a still Gold.

"What's up, why are we stopping?" I asked, before looking around noticing. No one was there.

"I guess they all went towards the Violet entrance," Gold said as he began scratching the back of his head, laughing casually. It was raining hard, but not as hard as before we entered the cave. I read later that Route 33 is notoriously known for always raining so I guess this was unconnected to the storm from earlier. At least it was a really small Route. Before long, as the rain cleared Gold introduced me to our next destination, "Quartz, welcome to Azalea Town."

We walked into the town and I looked around. It was a pretty small town: outside of the Gym, Pokémon Center and Mart, there wasn't much, only a few houses here and there. There was a well outside of town and based on the map from my PokéGear, it was kinda secluded from the rest of Johto.

"It's a pretty small place after being in Violet," Gold said, seeing my face. "However, considering Goldenrod's our next stop, a nice break from the big city might do you some good."

"Well, it's around the same size as New Bark," I replied. "I think I'll manage just fine. So, I guess we better rent a room at the Pokémon Center?"

Gold grinned, "Actually, no." I looked at him confused. "We gotta save money when we can, and thankfully, I got an Aunt who lives here in Azalea, so I think we can crash there for the next couple days until your next Gym battle." He pointed to a house towards the edge of town, "Of course, we'll have to help out, like cleaning dishes and the like, but it's cheaper than the Pokémon Center. Besides, we got a couple days until Bugsy comes back, so we'll train in the meantime. So, after we visit the Pokémon Center and heal, we can head over."

It seemed like a good plan. Staying at the Pokémon Center every day, while cheap, was starting to go through what funds I had. That's not even mentioning buying food from them every day as well. Since Gold wasn't actually doing much battling, I imagine the only money he really has coming in is the cash he gets from the interview he does after Gym battles with Goldenrod Radio. Thinking about our cost expenses afterward, I'd imagine that he was almost as broke as me. He also has Azalea's Gym Badge, so no post Gym battle interview money for him this time around.

"So, we heal?" I said, motioning towards the Pokémon Center.

Gold chuckled, "Yeah, we'll heal up first."

* * *

 **January 27** **th** **-Olivine City Harbor-8:00 PM**

 **Normal POV**

A boat from Hoenn docked in the Olivine Harbor, carrying Shinji Idaisa along with the intern the Devon Corporation sent with him to Johto. 'Hm, I wonder how far Zircon's traveled over this past week,' his father thought as he set down his bags.

"Ahhh," the intern exclaimed, knocking him out of his thoughts. "It is good to be back!" He turned to face Shinij. "Damn, Mr. Idaisa, no offense, but next time, take a plane or something. These boats take forever!" The intern seemed to be in his late teens, possibly early twenties. His behavior at times was a bit brash, but most of the time, he was extremely proper. He always arrived at meetings 5 minutes beforehand, he was polite at all times, and most noticeably was the state his clothes were in, always as if they were just pressed and folded. Even now, after being on a boat ride for several hours and descending in a rush with hundreds of other passengers all trying to make their way through, he managed to get through without a single wrinkle in his jeans or his bright red t-shirt. Yet, upon landing, he pulled out a lint roller and proceeded to clean his clothes further

"First off," Shinji began, "call me Shinji, there are no needs for formalities here. Second, were you provided with any accommodations? If not, you can always stay at my place. I am in charge of helping you get around. The guest bedr -"

"It's cool," the intern said before he could finish, pushing in his glasses, making his red eyes shine through. "I used to live in Johto before moving to Hoenn. I know the map like the back of my hand," he said showing the back of his hand for effect. "Besides," he continued, "I got a friend who lives in Violet, and I can probably crash at his place for a couple nights." He pulled out his PokéGear, and started typing away, probably messaging said friend. He pulled out a Pokéball and summoned a large green dinosaur-like Pokémon with four large leaves as wings, known as a Tropius. "Just tell me where to meet you tomorrow," he said as he picked up his bag and mounted the large Pokémon.

"We're supp-" Shinij was about to begin as the Tropius began to flap its wings, causing him to flinch from the gusts of wind headed his way. He looked up and saw that with the wind blowing harder, the intern's neatly combed black hair started to blow back in forth, revealing a scar of what appeared to be claw marks on his right forehead. During work, the scar would usually covered up by his hair, making this the first time Shinij had seen it. He was about to ask before deciding against it, "Just meet me at my house at around 9-9:30 AM. We'll talk as I make my way to work on what you can do. I live in New Bark Town, I'll message you the exact address when I return!" By the end, the intern was so high up that Shinji had to yell to make sure he heard. The intern nodded back at him before putting an oddly shaped white hat that could easily be mistaken for his hair before soaring off toward Violet. Shinji sighed as his gaze followed him flying through the sky. He then looked at the evening sky, wondering where his own son was now, in the great region of Johto.

* * *

 **January 27** **th** **-Azalea Town-10:00 PM**

 **Zircon/ Quartz's POV**

After healing, Gold managed to convince his aunt and uncle to allow the two of us to stay the next couple of days. Like he predicted, we would have to help out a bit here and there, but it was worth it to get a free place to stay. Both of them were nice people, so I kind of felt right at home. Right after the two of us cleaned up the kitchen, we were about to call it a night.

The doorbell rang. "I got it," Gold called, walking over to the door.

"Are they expecting anyone?" I asked. I mean, we were kind of surprise visitors ourselves.

"Not that I'm aware of," he said reaching the door.

He opened it to reveal a girl, about my age, jet black hair with bangs explosive enough to be on par with Gold's, reaching about shoulder height. At the ends of her hair, there appeared to be violet highlights, with her bangs hanging right over her eyes, which were the same color as her highlights. She wore a t-shirt just as violet along with a black jacket with spiky white fur on the ends of the sleeves, along the zipper, to the edges of the back collar. She had jeans that had been cut off into shorts and sandals on her feet. "Gold-nii?" She said upon walking in. "What are you doing here?" Gold-nii? From what I know, Gold doesn't have a younger sister, but since we're at his aunt and uncle's house, she could be…

"Ami?" Gold asked just as surprised. "I should be asking you the same question, I thought you were headed for Blackthorn?"

"Well yeah, but I decided to-wait, that's not point…" Their arguem-er, conversation went into the background as I thought for a moment. I remember hearing the name 'Ami' a couple times now, just being mentioned quickly, never really sticking out too much.

I decided to interject myself to see what was going on, "Uh, hey there," I said, as both Gold and our new guest looked at me, a few seconds going by before Gold finally realized what I was asking.

"Oh right, you haven't met," Gold said. You don't say. "Quartz, this is my cousin Amethyst," he said gesturing towards her.

"Just call me Ami," she said smiling.

 **And with that, Chapter 5 is done. This actually took much longer than intended, since although the pace of the story is moving faster (every chapter isn't like one day) I don't want to make it so fast where weeks are flying by without notice. Speaking of which, it's officially a week since Zircon first left back in Chapter 1, so I guess that's a milestone.**

 **Anyway, this chapter had some things I want to address:**

 **Quickly, I'll talk about Amethyst. If you look in earlier chapters, I have hinted at her-she didn't come out of nowhere. In any case, she's an OC of mine that is Gold's cousin. While now she won't play too big a role, her importance will increase farther down the line.**

 **Garnet-His involvement with the International Police is very, well let's say complicated. His being an officer and rank are very real, but while it's not a stretch to say he's a rogue cop, it's not that black and white.**

 **The tone shift with Garnet. I feel some people might think it's too sudden, and to tell the truth, this is how he was imagined since the beginning and the fact that it took this long for me to show this side of him makes me think that some people might see it as unexpected.**

 **The paragraph where Zircon talks about Gold may be a bit different than most depictions of Gold, but I felt it was needed. Gold does have his moments throughout PokéSpe and I felt that Zircon had to witness Gold in such a situation to cement Gold's qualification as someone who could teach him. Don't worry, the story won't keep glorifying Gold in the future. He is, well, Gold after all.**

 **Pictures of Falkner & Amethyst as they appear here will go up on my DeviantArt-link in My Bio. Remember, I'm not the best artist, I just do this to give some sort of image of what I'm going for if my descriptions aren't enough for you. **

**Anyway, I want to try to upload more frequently, just school or work, based on the time of year, coupled with the fact that I'm not entirely satisfied with a chapter until it reaches at least a minimum of 10,000 words, the upload schedule keeps getting delayed. I want to say thanks to anyone who continues to keep up with this story, it is truly appreciated. Extra thanks to anyone who reviews, it is actually what motivates me to keep going.**

 **In any case, that's Chapter 5, I'll begin work on Chapter 6 as soon as this goes up. As always, thank you once again for reading, following, favoriting, reviewing-everything you do. I'll see you all next time.**

 **-MateiFire**


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